We are caste, colour, creed
We are minority, majority
We are states and borders
We are rich, we are poor
We are puppets.
Brainwashed, we can cut throat
bomb, burn and inhume alive
our own species
old, young and infants alike.
The soul that sparks through
the eyes of the fellow beings
at their last breath do not
arouse our own or drive
us to submit to the shrive
as if immortals, ever survive!
We can talk endless on humanity
inhumanly.
We humans?
It is our hypocrisy that lies at the root of most of our social problems. This has been reflected nicely in the following words: We can talk endless on humanity inhumanly.
If only we did half of what we utter! Indeed the hypocrisy. Thank you sir for the nice comment.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Srijana’s poem highlights the inhuman nature of terrorism. The opening stanza declares the unity of human kind, ‘/ We are caste, colour, creed / / We are rich, we are poor /’. But the second stanza shows how our unity can break down under evil influences when humans can become brainwashed and be manipulated like puppets to commit murder. The poet wisely and a bit hopelessly laments our human weaknesses in this context when she describes how the soul of a being dying from terrorism shows itself through their eyes ‘at their last breath’, yet this pure experience still fails to ‘arouse our own [soul]’ to ‘submit to the shrive’ or seek penance for evil acts. She then reinforces her argument against the violence of terrorism and subtly refers to the idea of suicide terrorists killing so they can reach paradise, when she exclaims, ‘as if immortals ever survive! ’. Finally, she reminds the reader of the absurdity of terrorism as a strategy for winning a war when she says, ‘/ We can talk endlessly on humanity / Inhumanly. / We humans? ’. Her ending is quite strong and a wonderful play on the word ‘human’.
Thank you for the nice commentary on the poem and the great work on our anthology Pam ☺