This a poem by Khalil Gibran, a Lebanese America poet/writer. From it’s title, you may already have deduced what it is: a poem indicating the characteristics of a pitiful nation…
What made me publish this poem on artsyHANDS is how, coincidentally, we as a nation can relate to the qualities mentioned by Gibran.
They say good poetry is timeless. Khalil wrote this early in the 1900s (published in 1933 in The Garden of the Prophet) and it almost seems like it was written today for Pakistan’s current situation!
My uncle, Saad Altaf, specially asked for this to be published on artsy.
Read on ahead why Saad so specially asked for this to be published!
Pity The Nation…
Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of religion.
Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave,
eats a bread it does not harvest,
and drinks a wine that flows not from its own wine-press.
Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero,
and that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful.
Pity a nation that despises a passion in its dream,
yet submits in its awakening.
Pity the nation that raises not its voice
save when it walks in a funeral,
boasts not except among its ruins,
and will rebel not save when its neck is laid
between the sword and the block.
Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox,
whose philosopher is a juggler,
and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking.
Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpeting,
and farewells him with hooting,
only to welcome another with trumpeting again.
Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with years
and whose strong men are yet in the cradle.
Pity the nation divided into into fragments,
each fragment deeming itself a nation
–
So, did you make the connection between the nation Khalil based his poem on: Lebanon/Syria and Pakistan?
#1 by Rabia on November 6, 2009 - 6:04 pm
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Sadly, sadly agreed.
#2 by Nab on November 6, 2009 - 6:42 pm
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HEYYY I’VE READ THIS!
It was so awesome, seriously, that I submitted it to my school magazine. 
#3 by Farhan on November 6, 2009 - 9:52 pm
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Hey, can i get the real version of this poem? I mean in urdu. Loved this one also.
#4 by Waisybabu on November 6, 2009 - 10:04 pm
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This was written in English originally. Gibran was an English author and poet.
#5 by Mak009x on November 7, 2009 - 12:44 am
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So true… As if it was written for us pakistanis only
#6 by talhaz on November 7, 2009 - 12:45 am
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Great post!
Good that there some ppl who have candles in the dark!
#7 by rabya on November 7, 2009 - 4:46 am
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good poem, its sad
#8 by madiha ghous on November 15, 2009 - 12:44 pm
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too true…
#9 by Mohsin Bukhari on May 10, 2010 - 12:19 am
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An amazing masterpiece from an amazing master.
“Pity the nation that cannot find the time to pity itself,
Pity the nation that possesses a nuclear weapon but
cannot defend itself,
Pity the nation that does not have a national identity,
Pity the nation that that was born on piety and has sold
it to others,
Pity the nation whose energy resources can last for 300
years but suffers from endless blackouts,
Pity the nation whose President is a convicted money-
launderer,
Pity the nation whose Interior Minister’s only credential
is being the President’s driver in London,
Pity the nation whose Ambassador to Iran used to be its
President’s money laundering courier,
Pity the nation whose Foreign Minister thanked Hilary
Clinton for the crumbs she threw at him while proudly
and arrogantly boasting to be ‘an unshakeable and an
unbreakable ally of the Zionist State,
Pity the nation who has allowed the people who have
plundered it twice to ravage it a third time,
Pity the nation that hands over its daughters to
an ‘imperial world devourer and bully’,
P I T _ P _ _ I _ T _ _
Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y why why why why why ?”