"WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION" POEM OF JERNAIL AANAND / INDIA

 

WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION

Among  weapons of mass destruction, 

We count rockets,  missiles, 

Tanks and bombs,

The most lethal of all is Language 

Which when spoken

Or kept folded,

Downs or raises Empires.

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An object and its view form 

Complete picture 

Not only with what is 

But also with 

What happens to be 

The scene of its spectacle 

If there is a bus, 

The complete picture of the bus 

Is not its body, 

Or the people inside it

But the one too

Who is taking this picture.

I am always a part of 

All the phenomenon

Every happening, good or bad

Has outside it a man

Looking at it, approving 

Or disapproving it.

Sometimes criticising it

In soft tems, and sometimes harsh

And getting caught

Sentenced for life or even out of it.

I am going on because I preferred 

Not to see what I ought to see.A

(Keeping alive is a compromise with Death).

Language is a dangerous tool

When used abusively 

And Z plus security

When folded and placed 

In a freezer.

Its presence attests to

A Spirit of Rebellion,  

And absence, to a serene servility

Among  weapons of mass destruction, 

We count rockets,  missiles, 

Tanks and bombs,

The most lethal of all is Language 

Which when spoken

Or kept folded,

Downs or raises Empires.

Dr Jernail S Aanand

India