Price Of Beauty Poem by Samah Khan

The price we must all pay for beauty
Is countered by the free distribution of ugliness-
There is no sky left untouched
And no ground left unscarred
We tear down houses, burn down livelihoods
And then rejoice.

Those beauty queens you see,
Their faces too are marred by the black soot
Of exhaust pipes; their hands too are filthy
From the crimes against nature
And they too reek of blood sold at a pound a pint.

And they say I am weak, that I can do nothing-
Those men in suits, carrying binders the size of the earth
Speaking in muted, unintelligible tones, taking this to be
A sign of distinction and superiority-
They say I can talk and talk and people will listen,
But while they listen, their stomachs are still digesting
The meal of someone else’s ruin from just the day before

These men they say they will ‘try’
But trials, like unproven hypotheses are overrated,
Nothing save words will remain tomorrow-
In textbooks, to be read, memorized and then forgotten.

Nature is arrested; its crime: beauty,
That beauty which had been borne from the earth
And had extended to the far reaches of the sky,
So high up that I fathom they must’ve touched heaven-
Its crime was giving shade to the man who bore the axe
To tear down a tree-
And bear fruit for the soldiers who were to smother it with gunpowder-
And give sustenance to those who were destined to destroy it.
These are the crimes of nature,
And we are the supposed saviors of the earth.

I am but one person, but I am many
Unspoken, yet to speak or once spoken and lost-
I have come and I have gone many times
And each time I have touched one life and saved one bird,
Rescued one cat, fed one dog, planted one tree, sheltered one innocent-
They say I am weak; I am like flowing water that will dry up
When it is too hot to bear and the going gets tough-
They say I am fragile and can be walked all over-
But if I am water, then do I not cause ripples if disturbed?
Do I not pour down generosity when crops are dying
And fields are dry?
Yes I am water, but I am not weak
For it is water, not strength, that destroys iron.