Guide Me Light Poem by Madathil Rajendran Nair

Bearded wise
I had faith
In them so I listened
As they explained
Scripture and wisdom
In different ways

They have now let me down
En masse they have moved
To counter proselytization
To be one-up-man
In the number game of conversion
And reconversion
Where they counted only sheep-heads
And not the stuff in the heads
Falling prey to proselytization

Basking in the glory of an ancient past
When planes adorned with flowers
Flew unmemorable skies
Shaming recent Bernoulli
When they knew the velocity of light
To the last decimal point
Making Einstein and others shady borrowers
Of knowledge that existed
Just between the icy mounts on the North
And Cape Comorin on the South

As pastors and priests
Supposed to be shepherds
Misled their herd
Predated among fools
To sell their message
In dubious ways
And swell their folds

As the intelligentsia of the West
Thought caricatures and cartoons
Would earn millions if they hurt
Sentiments in the name of free speech
And traded their heads in gory bloodshed

As bearded men with guns and bombs
Moved about wiping out
Humans they thought
Were their enemies
Oh, where is the olive branch?

On blood-soaked ground of despair and hate
Here I sit, I have only the Light
That shines in me, so I beseech "Guide me Light"
As ever I have done from my ancient past
A forlorn destitute betrayed
By his own wisdom
Those who teach
And the world around