Poem: We want violence | Rahul Ray

No matter what we say
We want violence
More violence, more, more, and more,
Pile up, please.

We pray to God every day
Please, You, almighty
Shower us with not peace, but violence.
Peace is for the feeble in heart
We mighty humans have a stomach for violence.

There is nothing new here
We are made in the image of our ancestors, are we not?
We grind our teeth in rage
If you do not listen, we will tear you apart,
Stone you to death like Hypatia,
Or burn you alive in a stake, as we did to Bruno,
Then, we can nail you on a cross, poor Jesus
Else we will bury you in the ground with your head out
Let the animals eat you alive

This has been the norm, except for
A few imbeciles like Buddha and Jesus, who
Climbed upstream to preach non-violence and peace
Stupid them. The table turned shortly, and
We went back to slashing and burning.
Might is always right.

And in our present world?
We left the individual and sought collective peril
With our new-fangled knowledge of science and technology
We bomb everyone to oblivion with missiles and drones
Fitted with cluster bomb, lest anybody escapes, while
We stay safe behind the defense shield.
If you throw a nuclear warhead fitted in your missile
We will throw a counter towards you in no time.

Then we will have a collective exit from our beloved earth
Like the women in Rajputana in the yesteryears
Who jumped into the fire together taking the oath of Jahar-brata.

Ah, what a joy it is to bid adieu collectively.

— (Rahul Ray, Ph.D., Professor of Medicine, Boston University, an award-winning writer of Bengali and English fiction, poetry, essays, and novels is also a painter, vocalist, and musician)