Of Thoughts and Insights

Poems....

THE AMBUSH

He watched the old movie unfold,

The head-covered man bashing his van into a building,

Nodding his head: ‘Yes another one, they are terrorists,’

The calm way he uttered those words

The look in his young eyes,

Made me ache.

 

For they had won,

Hands down,

they had won,

Ultimately, they had won,

Their hollow victory,

turning the world upon itself.

 

Those demented fanatics have implanted the bitter seeds,

Our young believing that terror is here to stay,

Questioning their identity constantly,

Questioning elements of society, a fact

Could I really answer?

Did I even want to answer? No justification, no excuse can wipe,

Needless deaths, destruction of innocents.

Not a single life lost,

could be justified.

 

The land turned into a big-gated occupied territory

The once-peaceful kingdom rent with shootouts,

As the tolerance of our spiritual beliefs

Is hijacked,

twisted,

used.

 

Power-hungry zealots

Misguided by the need for vengeance,

Vengeance against perceived,

Unacceptable ways of life,

Those whose hearts have been wiped clean,

Clean of the basic tolerance for fellow man,

A tolerance making the religion thrive,

A spirit attracting billions to the faith,

All dashed on the rocks

In the surging, ravaging river

Of loathing the Other.

 

As the very essence of our faith

Now stands in danger

Of this ambush from within,

Turning back upon them,

Derailing their intentions

As hate colors their vision of the truth,

That we are all, all, all

Sons and daughters of Adam,

That the three faiths,

Our mainstay, our guide

Are interlinked, bonded forever,

Sealed by The One

To spread their message of peace for human kind.

 

GENTLENESS STIRRED

Striding through the gates of learning,

Wrapped warmly in her black abaya,

Modestly cloaked head to toe,

Not a hair astray, no skin showing,

Holding her head up high,

Thinking of the future,

Arms laden with books,

Head in the clouds,

Lunch, television, studies, friends,

That is how her day will go,

Near future, far future,

Blissful, brimming with expectations.

 

“Hey, you there!” thunders across the parking lot.

“You with the black boots” the tone is raised.

Oh, oh, reluctantly she turns,

Fear stirs,

Flinching,

Watches wrath unleashed.

 

The self-righteous, bushy-bearded figure,

Crashes through the crowds,

Bestriding his narrow world like a Colossus,

As his entourage hurries in his wake,

A raging bull on the rampage,

Seeing red as the girl flouts ‘convention.’

 

Necks crane to watch,

The crowds are in on the show.

He thunders on,

The police by his side.

“Stop, your scarf has slipped.”

The tirade begins, gains momentum.

 

Head cast down,

Eyes to the ground,

Shoulders drooping,

She listens,

Afraid,

Confused,

Cringing,

Burrowing into her deepest self.

 

Has she missed a prayer?

Has she been a disobedient daughter?

Cheated, lied, stolen,

Beaten a child, an animal, been cruel to another soul?

What did she do?

Her scarf slipped,

An unforgivable transgression,

In the eyes of the Controllers.

 

Is that her sin,

Her ever-lasting humiliation,

Her major fall from grace,

Her offense?

 

The mind is strange, the spirit stranger yet,

The rebellion begins.

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DISCLAIMER:

I do not own the poems above. It belongs to their rightful authors.