Freedom Fighters

Attempt the Impossible Task!

Freedom Fighters

Hard men who, having lost their families,
Will carry on the fight or die trying
To frustrate all the petty tyrannies
That left children dead and women crying.

excerpt from "Coffee, Tobacco, a Kalishnikov"
by Karl Stuart Kline

These two poems reflect the privations and suffering that "Freedom Fighters" have endured in the past and still endure even now.

Sometimes they can even win their battle for their cause, but then promises are broken and it begins again.

These are obviously stories from the Middle East, but they are closer to home than most people realize.

In the USA, they are no further away than our own Indian Wars, which were foughgt with superior technology, overpowering numbers and even biological warfare.

Balochi expatriates around the world protest the open persecution of their tribesmen, women and children, especially by Iranian and Pakistani security forces

"Coffee, Tobacco and a Kalishnikov" is a phrase that I heard many years ago in relation to arabic resistance fighters who could endure any privation so long as they had their strong sweet coffee, tobacco and weapons with which to fight their enemies. Anyway, I never forgot the phrase and now it's become a poem.

>^.Karl!

Coffee, Tobacco, a Kalishnikov

by Karl Stuart Kline 6/17/2008

Coffee, tobacco, a Kalishnikov

And a spirit that wishes to be free,

These are the necessary supplies of

Dedicated fighters of tyranny

Hard men who, having lost their families,

Will carry on the fight or die trying

To frustrate all the petty tyrannies

That left children dead and women crying.

Their women and children have been taken

Or killed by the peddlers in human flesh,

Leaving them with a heart that's breaking

And for their brothers, too, it bleeds afresh.

So they fight the war that will never cease,

Denied their happiness, denied their peace.

* * * * * *

After I had written this, I posted it on a closed web site that I had been invited to join. My interest in Human Rights combined with my outspoken tendencies has opened some unexpected doors for me. Very few Westerners have been able to take part in this group and I consider it an honor to be invited.

My poem hit very close to home for one gentleman and this was his response:

"Dear Karl,

When I read the first line, it reminded me of a comment made to me by an old friend, who is now like me too old to go to mountains. Baluchistan being a mountainous territory one has to have lots of energy to pick up arms and fight. this friend told me that it was opium, fresh milk and strong shoes that kept them going."

That response was in turn inspiration for the following poem:

"Opium, Fresh Milk and Good Shoes"!

Opium, fresh milk and strong shoes would do
For the mountain fighters of bygone times.

A hard life breeds hard men – that’s nothing new

And Mountain Men who know that, live hard lives

Modern times mean little on ancient trails

That have been there longer than anyone

Can even remember, but they tell tales

Of would be conquerors that were broken

By the defenders who they seldom saw,

Unwelcome as they traveled untamed lands,

Missing unmarked trails that they never saw,

Seeing naught of the land but rocks and sand.

They miss the point, because they cannot see

These are people who truly do live free.

                        Karl Stuart Kline

Other pages that address matters pertinent to Mideastern affairs (including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran etc.):

“Assassination”

" Banned in Iran",

" Peace",

"Saddam Hussein's Execution",

"September 11, 2001"

"United Nations"