Whose War?

War has become an orphan

No one owns it anymore

There are no clear sides

Everyone just collectively

Decides to be silent

Children are killed

Buildings are razed

Drones are dropped

Media says and shows it all

Except who are the perpetrators

And who are the victims

There were grand wars

Once upon a time

Fought for justice, power

And similar thuggery

There were heroic warriors

Grand Manhattan project

Even Nuclear bomb

Had a purpose

Now there are drones

Flying with precision

Targetting journalists

Activists, hospitals

Everyone is vulnerable

No one wants to own a war

No one marches with conviction

Cowardice is abundant

They kill the unarmed

They target civilians

Throwing away all rule books

Treaties and peace talks of earlier wars

Ammunition and weapons?

Suppliers perhaps are the same

To both the sides

Absolutely fair in their

Dealings and trade

Who killed whom for what?

Please don’t ask

It’s a catch 22 trap

War is good for the economy

After all 

It is all collateral damage

For greater good

Whose greater good and for what?

Ah! Don’t ask

Along with war

Goodness, kindness

Have become orphaned too

After poisoning the soil and soul

We sow and reap only hate

Love too has become an orphan

With no grave or tombstone

War has become an orphan

What will become of us?

Maybe the culprits and reasons are the same so are the innocent victims. Be it Gaza, Ukraine, Manipur and other conflicts or wildfires in elite neighborhoods of Hollywood. It is a skewed idea of entitlement, unchecked growth and greed. To feel entitled to encroach and occupy – not just other nations but also nature. To completely disregard basic tenets of human existence and Nature. To stop being human to create luxuries out of miseries at the cost of the environment.

What will become of you and me are in the images of the world today. The destructive progress will reach our homes too before we know it. Natural elements like earth, fire, water and air will try to tame the shrews we have become. Earthquakes here, snowfall there, wildfire here and floods, landslides there – we refuse to read the messages they bring just like we refuse to learn from the history of hate and war.

What will become of you and me isn’t hard to imagine…we no longer even persevere and aspire to leave a peaceful and safe planet for our children. What will become of us and them?

Kaleidoscope

Escaping with little
Leaving home behind
A refugee in the world
Only a sky and courage to behold

Empty mansions
Tired caretakers
Only wealth to behold
A hostage to greed

Twain realities coexist
Yet they never meet

Peace is easy to violate
War remains difficult to negotiate

Ah! World…so predictable
With no new way ahead
We trudge the known bloody paths

Self-similar war games
Us and them

Power bereft of reason
Reason bereft of compassion
Compassion bereft of love
Love bereft of logic
Logic bereft of purpose

A farce called out
Wit bored of sarcasm
Futile cynicism

Kaleidoscope needs to be shaken
A new pattern must unfold
Out of all brokenness…

Love and Hate

Hate could
Learn lessons
From immortal
Love

How to hold
It all in
Till the
Heart breaks

How to turn
Away coldly
And never
Look back

You don’t
Need a knife
Just words
Are enough

Hate could
Learn lessons
From Immortal
Immoral Love

How to
Let go
And not
Fight for

How to wait
Till it comes
To knock
On the door

Hate just
Wastes it all
By losing
The battles

For in wars
Hate just
Blinds you
Fools you

Love recognises
The other
Who stands
With the sword

Love knows
How to embrace
And defeat
All the hate

Hate just frets
Fumes and
Builds the rage
To go on rampage

Love remains
Immortal
Tiny cry of life
For Life itself