Mapping People Poem by Ila Manish

Smoothing down a map,
Wrinkled with age.
Creases upon creases
Now mar its face.
Childish, squiggly, petty lines
Divide the colours -
Slapdash splashes of shades
For countries;
Roads of red like roses.
Defiant blue streaks -
Governed and bridled.

Black stands out
Amidst the white,
Subconscious segregation...
Allotting generalisations,
Distributing hate.
Crossing colours, we draw
our Trump-card of
race,
Gambling on fellow lives,
We 'make ourselves great again.'
Erecting walls, cutting off
Nature's breath...
And we dare to label
Love - '! Against Nature! '

Failures are forgotten,
Glory is short-lived.
Love, however, is eternal.
Love surpasses gender and age,
Colour and creed, race and wage...
So why can't we?