i
i have seen the
hate of the mujahedeen on
tv.
even once the
screen is dimmed,
their images enter the
room & threaten my
life.
how does a
soul ignite with hell
fire?
why does a rabid
dog growl &
bite?
what moves the
heart from irritation to
pain to hurt to anger to
rage to infernal
hate?
ii
we feel so
distant from the Muslim
cause––
yet our swords were
crossed for more than a
thousand years &
we cursed each other as
faceless, faithless
infidels.
iii
we sleep in seeming
innocence in our beds as our
government haunts the world with
power.
air power, land power, oil
power, money power, fire power, super
power.
for all our democratic
righteousness, we did not
hear.
for all our democratic
vision, we did not
see.
for all our democratic
arrogance, we did not
understand
the length of our
gaping shadow
across the Arabian
heart.
we so easily forget &
forgive ourselves for
what we
do.
we absolve ourselves of
stains & indiscretions
while
Muslims
bleed.
Muslims
remember.
some ignite with
wrath; others pray for
peace
iv
in the dark of
generations, hate grew &
screamed out in the
night––
birthing children
who bite & juveniles who
slash at us with
knives.
we call this rightly
inhumanity, but it is
merely a reflection of our
own.
v
so now we are
killing Muslims who
hate but have never seen
us––
it is time to soothe their
pain with our
grief;
their rage with our
compassion.
hate is not a
recent visitor to this
world
& sometimes war
is the intractable human
way.
the death of our
enemy is the funeral of a
friend;
the clenched teeth of
hate can only be
freed by
time &
love.