Abdul and Ram were better friends
Than you and I could've ever been
Sitting on a bench in a park
Having strawberry and vanilla ice cream

Now it was time to return
Abdul's uncle came to pick
Asked him,"Who's the other boy?"

"Ram"

The uncle had a massive fit
"Don't you know that that boy
Is an idolater,is a disbeliever
He worships rocks and leaves
That 5 year old is a liar, a thief
He worships the false prophet
Do not go near him
We are better, we are in the right
Leave him or convert him
We are the faith of peace, son"

Now the 4 year old pondered over this
While Ram's brother came to pick up Ram
Seeing him with a skullcapped boy
He took him to the bronze statue in the park

"Brother you're a fool, a miser
You should've been a little wiser
This boy's ancestors' ancestor
Killed our family's ancestors' ancestor
Your grandfather's grandfather's debt you have to pay
1000 years before today..."
He proceeded to tell this 4 year old these words of propaganda
Trying to fulfil his devious agenda
".....they killed our women and lynched our folk and committed other atrocities
Leave this progeny of Mahmud of Ghazni"

No one spoke the complete truth, no one completely lied
The bronze Buddha statue near the fountain smiled

They left the park one last time
Together they weren't meant to smile
For a millennia ago
One man killed another man and everybody died

Hate was sown into their minds
Why O! Why O! Why!

No one spoke the complete truth, no one completely lied,
One man killed another man and everybody died

Who left you
so broken that your
eyes now cut deeper than
the sharpest knife?
We are left with such hatred
weighed upon our hearts
and all we can do
is laugh.

I started off as an equal
I have everything that they do
my life was one and the same as my foe
childish battles of lesser
I won baring cost of a little
but as time outgrew my conscience
I found that the pieces were moving against me
with time my company reduced
they left one by one
all in time forgetting me
my castles collapsed
my religion dissuaded
my protectors in hiding
I could not run anymore
I have been cornered to a wall
as the queen left silently
without saying goodbye
I could not live any longer
she was most precious to me
I could not win without her by my side
so the king knelt down and died.

I hate myself
I hate myself for everything I am
And I hate myself for everything I’m not

you look in the mirror
and are weary
of the person you have become
knowing that they too, are weary of her
that they too, wish for the you of the past
because the you of the future
is nothing but hollowness
a graveyard of joy
a tomb of hope
a resting place for the light that will not return
you bid it goodbye
and it was happy to leave

Esther L. Krenzin