Good Bye Civilized Cannibals Poem by nadia abduljabbar

Good bye
Civilized Cannibals


A cannibal is a human being,
Yet, he does seek
To eat his fellow human being
The moment:
His fellow is sick,
Or too tired to give;
To have any kind
Of effect.
……
Here the cannibal
Prepares his fork and knife,
For he is so civilized,
He is from the twentieth century.
……
But why can’t I
Understand those who
Call themselves my
People and friends?
Why do they drive
Me to coo?
I am not smart enough,
To understand a century
As clever as a fox,
This kind of friendship,
Is beyond my reach
Naive is the word now
To call an innocent human heart.

Why can’t I see
The meaning behind
Their continuous seeking
To nourish their confidence
When they see the collapse
Of mine? !
Why do their hearts
Rejoice over my decline? !
Why is their happiness
For my sadness? !
……
I saw beasts,
Not living to eat
Who is sick;
In reality they help it,
Animals are more civilized
Than the man of this century;
We do not choose
Friends to be preserved,
For a day of need,
But if a need comes,
By a circumstance,
And you are stunned
To see the so called
‘Friends’,
Neither want to understand
Listen or stand by;
They become nothing
But civilized cannibals,
Then this is the moment
For the word good by,
O, Yes, this is the right

Time to say so long
And for ever adieu.

Amman,1993

(from Women with Wings)


publised in poemhunter on


14April,2013