Thank you dear subscribers, we are overwhelmed with your response.
Your Turn is a unique section from ThePrint featuring points of view from its subscribers. If you are a subscriber, have a point of view, please send it to us. If not, do subscribe here: https://theprint.in/
I don’t speak because I expect you to change
Nor do I even wish to be heard
That was all in the distant past
When my hopes had not been crushed.
Now I live because I must
And still hope for a better world
Because hope is all there is
Even when you’re bruised and burned.
After all is said and done
and mournful silence reigns,
one final wish will still remain—
that you wouldn’t even attempt to explain
what permits no explanation.
Let remorse wash over you
and make you feel the pain
you’ve caused innocent people
time and time again.
You’ve insulted reason, killed compassion
Maybe it calls for some reflection
Maybe.
Maybe you don’t have the power to decide
And your hands are, unfortunately, tied
Forcing you to become a vehicle
for someone else’s spite.
I hope there is a gulf between your actions
and what you feel inside.
But, tell me friend, how does that help
if it destroys countless lives?
So, let us agree that you’re sorry
but that sorry will not suffice.
The wounds you’ve inflicted heartlessly
won’t heal in the blink of an eye.
You know this as well as I do,
and sometimes I actually feel bad for you.
Maybe you’re not allowed the option
to disobey the order to be cruel.
Even if that can pass off as an excuse
And is indisputably true
I hope you’ll be sensible enough
to know it wouldn’t do.
Because some things are inexcusable
even if there is a “reason”.
Though I no longer dare to expect
anything from anyone,
I still have one small request
if only you would care to listen.
You can’t rewrite the past
What’s done is done!
Just remember to hold yourself to account
for every single injury inflicted without a cause
Ask yourself tough questions
Don’t try to cheat your conscience
Think of what you’ve become
by your blind obedience.
The howls of anguish you blithely ignored
Will echo through the years
What’s done can never be undone
Your actions will haunt you, me and everyone
for a very long time to come.
So, stop this madness in God’s name
And NEVER let it happen again.
NEVER AGAIN.
Note: This is a poem on the insufferable cruelty in Gaza that is unfolding before our very eyes. No torture, large-scale violence, genocidal acts, and the like are possible without the complicity of an army of players who owe allegiance to a tyrannical regime and execute its evil designs. This comes into conflict with the fact that empathy is a capacity that human beings have possessed for ages, as strongly backed by research. So, how do the foot soldiers of an autocrat bring themselves to follow cruel instructions? This is a poem calling into question the compliance and complicity of people, many of whom may be like you and me, that enables crimes against humanity.
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.