Won'T You Agree Poem by Homen Thangjam

Won’t you agree with me, If I
Say we’re living in hard times
Sorrow as the centre, just like the
Sun in the centre, with the
Planets as cognates of
Eternal time, in an
Never stopping revolution
Like the cycle of life.

Won’t you agree with me, If I
Say binary opposition is
The truth, life begets death
In happiness lies sorrow, although
Trinity rules the universe
Creation, preservation and destruction
Father, Son and the Holy Ghost
Seeking to harness harmony in turmoil.

Won’t you agree with me, If I
Speak of the trinity of time, too, it
Has three faces, yesterday, today and tomorrow
Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery
But today is a gift and thus, a present
Alas! We learn not from history, ever lost in
Search for a perfect future, let drift by the present, while
Caught in mundane yet odd affairs of life.

Won’t you agree with me, If I
Say yesterday is filled with
Tales, we dearly hold and read of
War, gory and misery, great epics
Beowulf, Mahabharata, Ramayana
Illiad & Odessey, Nibelungenlied, Aeneid
And Divine Comedy, of few I know, then
Tales of kindness, compassion and brotherhood.

Won’t you agree with me, If I
Say today is filled with
Imageries, we passionately watch
Babies suckling on bone-dried breasts in Africa
Limbless starved children in Afghanistan, Iraq, Jaffna
Museum of human skulls in Cambodia, shrines of nuclear bomb
Victims in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, baby in an earthen pot
Beside the funeral pyre of her mother, of few I know.

Won’t you agree with me, If I
Say today like yesterday we lust after
Smog and acid rain, even when there’re mountain ranges
Covered with white snow, camouflaged military fatigues we wear
Amidst emerald forest foliages, love to deafen chirping songs of crickets
Gleeful laughter of children, confused giggles of brides with
Landmines, TNT, IED explosives and nuclear bombs
Hope, trust and fraternity we blow up to extinction.

Won’t you agree with me, If I
Say today we wage war in the name of
Democracy and humanity, for oil
Gas, minerals and wealth, deprive the poor from food
Fatten the rich with fat, stock the arsenals with
Nuclear weapons and equip state forces with WMDs, and
Talk of equality justice, solidarity and world peace, award
Peace prize to genocidal kings just as we worship, Shiva the Destroyer.

Won’t you agree with me, If I
Say we live in an information age, knowledge
Based society, a global village cyber-linked, we click
Away blissfully mouse plugged in super computers, in isolated
Secure café rooms, we pick up avatars, have cyber sex or chat as if
Afraid of the open air or intimacy
Hiding your own avatar lest they discover you’re
Sexless, smelly, bald, deformed or deranged, yes in this
Global village our existence is cyber driven, physical-less.

Won’t you agree with me, and I know you won’t, If I
Say we live in hard times, join me in a revolution, why not remove the
Scales of illusion from our eyes, arise, awake and sleep not
Break free from the chains of mirage and misery, I know your answer:
We’re busy making strategy for change, for a better tomorrow
Computing the cost analysis of the change, for peace and prosperity
In the name of Father, Son and the Holy Ghost
Satyam Sivam Sundaram, Satyameva Jayate!
---
Glossary:
1. TNT: trinitrotoluene used as dynamite explosive
2. IED: Improvised explosive device
3. WMDs: Weapons of mass destruction
4. 'Arise, awake and sleep not': From Vivekananda's Chicago speech
5. Satyam Sivam Sundaram: 'Truth is God and God is beautiful'
6. Satyameva Jayate: 'Truth Alone Triumphs'