My Nephew Poem by NAYYAR SHABBIR AHMAD

O!
How I wish I thought like my nephew
He doesn’t wish to listen to the news
He intends to ignore the din around him
And, consentrate instead on things like
His burgeoning career, his kith and kin
And doing more-or-less his own thing

Which may not be a bad thing, ofcourse
But, what has got him so turned off
Is the calibre of todays World Leaders
Taciturn, unprincipled and underhand
Is just a snip of what he thinks of them

In some ways I share his total disgust
at the egotistical, selfish and unjust
behaviour of some of our mediocre
Politicians. They’re not much more
than priggish, self-serving, deceptive
self-centred, manipulative cowards

But, still - like other people I happen
to be stubbornly addicted to the news

So, while we waste our time worrying
about issues like: the lowering of the
American Governments morality. The
State of Democracy in various Countries
The refusal of certain Christian Govern-
ments to engage with The Muslim World
Terrorism in our time. The illegal war in
Iraq. How to stop Iran acquiring Nuclear
lweapons. Israel’s collective punishment
of the Palestinians because a few of their
millitants kidnapped an Israeli soldier etc.
etc.

Rafi is so very lucky. He’s blissfully
preoccupied living his own life