Residing in the West,
A limbo between hate,
A haven for slander,
Far flung from the fallacious horrors of the East.
To take sides,
Zionist or anti-Semite,
Is to receive a volley of statistics,
And to be blinded by data,
And words from another terror-father echo in my ears,
“A single death is a tragedy,
A million deaths is a statistics”.
An archaic feud,
A Holy land without sin,
Indeed,
A spiritual place,
Even now,
But for Abraham’s three religions,
His seed,
The chaos of his sin,
Lives on.
It is like brewing a cup of tea,
With a third-hand teabag,
A weak, taste,
The colour non-descript,
But the knowledge that somehow,
The taste could be bitterly pleasant.
To see the images,
The horrifying realities,
In Gaza,
In Lebanon,
In London,
In New York,
In countless other places,
Where Abraham’s seed curses the land.
Maybe someday I’ll become a man,
And speak out,
Become strong minded,
And take a side,
But Heaven today,
Is but a gaze away,
And I’d prefer to stay a boy,
And enjoy my innocence,
In Silent Acceptance.
Author notes
A poem I wrote after being on Facebook. I recieved two seperate group invites for a couple of Facebook groups; one from a good Muslim friend, and another from a good Jewish friend. I clicked on each of the groups and they were just full of people of each religion filled with such hate, the anger that was being put into their words, that was distressing enough. I came to the conclusion that there wasn't one, it is just one religion's word against another. So much hypocrisy, so much heartless slander, so I sort of retreating into this apathetic bubble, which is where I am now. Call me foolish to live a life far away from the realities of any true terror, when that true terror draws closer and closer to home (think London bombings), but I'm happy not being depressed.
The quote used is from Joseph Stalin (who, by the way was Georgian - I don't know if the recent troubles perhaps have anything to do with that), hauntingly true...famous words, but that is another matter unto itself.
What do you think?
Comments
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So true
I really share your views on this one. It seems stupid that we should spend so long fighting and not following what we claim to.
I thought the word 'fallicious' was particularly apt, having that 'hissing' sound to it, which is appropriate with Evil often depicted as the serpent.
I like the way in your list of places, you led up with Gaza and Lebannon - places which are far away, and Eastern, to places very near to us in the West... I thought it had quite a jerking force, with its reminder of acts of this kind of hatred being so close to home.
The last verse, brutally honest, was one I am quite sure many if not most can empathise with, and made me think of the children of the slums in India, standing, looking so small and young, in the midst of such dirt and desolation, the mess that adults have created. Those children don't seem to hold responsibility for that, or havet he ability to, and I thought you portrayed the scared child very well in 'I'd prefer to... Enjoy my innocence', which was obviously not true, with all the images you had descirbed before and were thus conscious of. This, I feel made it even more potent.
Good write x
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Thank you very much; your comments are continually welcomed.
There are many song writers and poets in this world who write the most beautiful words, but when you read it you realise they are living in a fantasy world. They have withdrawn so deep into themselves that the real world is non-existent to them. At one point in my life I was very close to doing just that. I got so depressed watching the news and reading the papers that I just decided to experiment for two weeks with boycotting as much of it as was possible. But I realised it was incredibly difficult, because in your head you're always continually aware of what is going on.
I am finding it incredibly difficult to word what I want to say next, I can't work out how to phrase it in a way that doesn't make me seem like the various nations in World War II that just; "didn't want to know" about the Holocaust. I actually cannot work out how to say it. Maybe I just "don't want to know" about the troubles in the East, maybe that's what it is. Maybe I am just being selfish and wanting to remain a boy because boys have illusions of Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy when the reality is far less romantic. Maybe I just want to see the East as being the beautiful; "Land of milk and honey" given in the Bible, dotted with the "Cedars of Lebanon"; “His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon" (that I think is from Song of Solomon). These quotes sound far more appealing than:
“Unofficial estimates of civilian deaths had varied from 10,000 to over 37,000.”
‘Dr Les Roberts, who led the study, said: "Making conservative assumptions we think that about 100,000 excess deaths, or more, have happened since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.”’
“Iraq Body Count: 14-16,000
Brookings Inst: 10-27,000
UK foreign secretary: >10,000
People's Kifah >37,000
Lancet: >100,000”
It’s beyond ridiculous. The second quote annoyed me particularly, it was from a paragraph entitled; “Conservative Assumptions”. There are people getting PhD’s and making lots and lots of money basically by leading studies into how many people have died, are likely to die, how many of them were US, Iraqi, British etc. I wonder how people would feel if they knew that their pain, suffering (I hate that word) and psychological trauma was being exploited for Westerner’s personal gain as they don their suits and sit in a fucking office.
Also read this article the other day:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7848768.stm
‘"It's important that we investigate the use of white phosphorus, because it does appear that it was used incorrectly in a clear breach of Geneva Conventions," says Mr Garlasco.’ Hahaha, this is such a cruel irony, yeah, this whole ILLUSION of the “Rules of War”, absolute bollocks to be frank. What the hell is he planning to do with his study if he proves it was a breach?! It will do bugger all.
And that is why I would like to live in a fantasy world because this whole scenario annoys the hell out of me. This comment started out as a normal reply, but has now descended into this rambling rhetoric. I’m not sure if I can handle it, in all honesty.
I also realise that the poem doesn’t do justice to my feelings, not entirely at least, it merely scratches the surface.
I also apologise for the use of profanity.
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excellent and feel the emotion in this work of art
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