We Humans? Poem by Shreej k.c

Srijana’s poem highlights the inhuman nature of terrorism. The opening stanza declares the unity of human kind, ‘/ We are caste, colour, creed / / We are rich, we are poor /’. But the second stanza shows how our unity can break down under evil influences when humans can become brainwashed and be manipulated like puppets to commit murder. The poet wisely and a bit hopelessly laments our human weaknesses in this context when she describes how the soul of a being dying from terrorism shows itself through their eyes ‘at their last breath’, yet this pure experience still fails to ‘arouse our own [soul]’ to ‘submit to the shrive’ or seek penance for evil acts. She then reinforces her argument against the violence of terrorism and subtly refers to the idea of suicide terrorists killing so they can reach paradise, when she exclaims, ‘as if immortals ever survive! ’. Finally, she reminds the reader of the absurdity of terrorism as a strategy for winning a war when she says, ‘/ We can talk endlessly on humanity / Inhumanly. / We humans? ’. Her ending is quite strong and a wonderful play on the word ‘human’.

It is our hypocrisy that lies at the root of most of our social problems. This has been reflected nicely in the following words: We can talk endless on humanity inhumanly.