Sydney’s sun beat down –
Bondi alive with summer’s promise.
Laughter leapt from sandcastles,
Waves carried the shouts of children,
The first day of Chanukah,
Light kindling hope above picnic rugs.
Innocence shone on towels and skin,
Families gathered in the rhythm of seaside peace –
No whisper, no omen of how quickly
Trust can be shattered on an ordinary day.
Then: violence erupted.
A staccato of gunshots fractured the afternoon,
Sand stained with terror and grief,
Sirens wept as hate claimed the lives
Of fifteen innocents –
Dreams stolen in seconds, for nothing but blind fury.
And as chaos spread,
A different story took shape against the blood and noise –
Ahmed al Ahmed, hands steady, heart open,
Fruit-seller from Sutherland, just a man
Who chose courage over fear.
He saw the horror and ran toward it,
Unarmed, no shield but his resolve.
He faced a gunman.
Where others hid, Ahmed moved –
Wrestling hate to the ground,
He disarmed the killer,
Refused to let violence finish its sentence uninterrupted.
Elsewhere, a life saver dived into the surf,
Rescuing a soul from the sucking waves,
Hiding him until the chaos dulled,
But Ahmed’s stand blazed singular –
Stopping the gun, stopping the blood,
Meeting hate with unshaken hands and will.
Let’s not distract, let’s not diminish:
Ahmed al Ahmed –
An ordinary Australian on an extraordinary day,
Showed the world the true face of bravery.
Hero, not bystanders;
Not kin, not friend – human,
Answering mindless violence with meaning and defiance.
So much potential squandered in the service of hate,
Yet in the ashes, humanity rises:
A stand, a name, remembered in every grain of sand.
Bondi’s loss is written in grief,
But its hope is written in courage –
Ahmed’s courage, refusing to look away,
Changing the story
When the world broke.
Let us say:
When Bondi Sands ran red with the fallout from hate,
One man stood tall.
All power to him – Ahmed al Ahmed
Who disarmed hate, and held the line.
