I was taught
To stay away from politics,
From tires burning in the street,
To not throw stones at the fleet
of khaki and camo, and spit-shined boots.
To avert my eyes
Like an obedient, ordinary citizen, so as
To avoid being stopped in the street,
Because I was taught
Not everyone
Who got into those jeeps
Came back.
I was taught how
To hug the earth
To avoid the metallic justice
of impartial bullets.
I was taught to stay away
from both sets of guns,
Those claiming to represent us,
And those claiming to defend us.
For I was taught how easy it was
To become a collateral body.
I pity the arrogant people of this city;
Their ignorant, soft bodies
Which haven't been taught
Like ours in the hills and valleys .
To stay away from politics,
From tires burning in the street,
To not throw stones at the fleet
of khaki and camo, and spit-shined boots.
To avert my eyes
Like an obedient, ordinary citizen, so as
To avoid being stopped in the street,
Because I was taught
Not everyone
Who got into those jeeps
Came back.
I was taught how
To hug the earth
To avoid the metallic justice
of impartial bullets.
I was taught to stay away
from both sets of guns,
Those claiming to represent us,
And those claiming to defend us.
For I was taught how easy it was
To become a collateral body.
I pity the arrogant people of this city;
Their ignorant, soft bodies
Which haven't been taught
Like ours in the hills and valleys .
Loved this one. Fav Line: "to hug the earth...bullets." Just a suggestion: Build mood for the second stanza. I am assuming you are here talking about Delhi, so a little bit of that. It's just a suggestion, I am sure it might have worked for other people.
ReplyDeleteThank you! For both your appreciation and the suggestion. I will definitely consider expanding/building the latter part, though I wanted to leave it as a small coda, so as to not make the city/Delhi into a sort of binary. But I'll think about it!
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