In The Style Of A Poem In What We Carry By Susan Glickman Poem by Gayathri Seetharam

In the style of a poem in What We Carry by Susan Glickman
-Gayathri B. Seetharam
I read about a tragedy of Canada in Jan 30th of 2017
A shooting that struck terror in the hearts of its victims
The first of a few to follow after in equally peaceful Toronto - another Canadian city
Of a mad man aiming fire at the Muslims who were praying in a Quebec mosque;

I pictured them praying in white garb as white as the snow outside
Praying to the Allah to keep them happy and successful
In Islamic chants that do not speak of the terror that ISIS spreads
In innocent unawareness that a white man as white as their garb, well, almost as white
Was filled with white rage, livid that immigrant Muslims were a part of Quebec;

I imagined the white of their clothing being stained by their blood
Red and bloody became the floor of the mosque
There was terror everywhere with the bullets flying around
It would not cease, thought the previously praying Muslims;

Why us, thought each of them
As had wondered out aloud, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi,
Oh, Ram! To the blessed God who chose this as his way
Of finishing him, Gandhi by a lone gunman
As had wondered out aloud, Jesus Christ,
Forgive them, God, for they know not what they are doing!
Querying God for this injustice of having him nailed to a cross
I, your poetess, wonder, if John Fitzgerald Kennedy even had time to react
Before the assassin's bullet struck him in three places in his body;





Six people died in the Quebec mosque that day
Nineteen people were critically injured
The others were speechless in terror
And tried to take shelter as the bullets flew around
Not knowing what their fault was
For they were praying in a house of worship
Just as Beautiful Hindus pray
Just as Wonderful Christians pray
Just as Lovely Jews pray
Just as people from all religions and all creeds and all faces of life pray;

Canada, hitherto peaceful Canada, had committed a crime
Against religion and humanity
But people from all of Quebec mourned the victims
And prayed for the dead and injured
PM Justin Trudeau and his supportive wife held
A mass prayer to the victims;

The cold around personifying the cold of the dead
And acting as a simile to the deathly chill faced by the other victims
And metaphorically being the cold that Canada felt
But being an oxymoron to the warmth that Canada gave in
Terms of the love and sympathy and support for the victims
Cannot root out the cold terror that strikes the heart of Canadians
When they hear about such tragedies and think to themselves,
"Where is the next one coming from? "



Acknowledgements:
Wikipedia
Thanks to The Canadian Encyclopedia for the special picture