Song of Becoming by Fadwa Tuquan

They're only boys
who used to frolic and play
releasing in the western wind
their blue red green kites
the color of the rainbow
jumping, whistling, exchanging spontaneous jokes
and laughter
fencing with branches, assuming the roles
of great heroes in history.

They've grown suddenly now
grown more than years in a lifetime
grown, merged with the secret word of love
carried its letters like a Bible, or a Quran
read in whispers
They've grown more than the years of a lifetime
become the trees plunging deep into the earth
and soaring high towards the sun
They're now the voice that rejects
they're the dialectics of destruction and building anew
the anger burning on the fringes of a blocked horizon
invading classrooms, streets, city quarters
centering on squares
and facing sullen tanks with a stream of stones.

With plain rejection they now shake the gallows of the dawn
assailing night and its deluge
They've grown, grown more that the years of a lifetime
become the worshipped and the worshipper
When their torn limbs merged with the stuff of our earth,
they became a legend
They grew, grew and became
larger than all poetry.