We old people fear*
as we see
our lads and lasses
who once wielded pens in homes
and happy with tomes
rush like moth
to a place
of their dream
to blossom;
to breathe an air
filled with gunpowder;
to send down roots
into the dark soil there.
Soil is dark……..everywhere.
They prefer
not to see
how hateful moments hover over each head.
It doesn’t matter to them
even if they get killed
for it is the land
of milk and honey and knowledge
kindling light.
So in thousands they fly.
We haul our heart
to the point of wailing
in vain.
In our empty nests
fear reigns.
*In remembrance of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, an Indian engineer who was shot dead in Olathe City, Kansas, a few days ago. He was probably a victim of racial and ethnic divisiveness. To apprehend the gunman a 24 year old American was injured too.
Posted for Susan’s Midweek Motif ~ Fear @ Poets United
sumanar/lekha 
Timely poem Sumana… hate crimes should be called out for what they are, this was pure evil and one can only hope the family gets justice.
Oh what a helpless and rightful anger! May it be heard.
I share the grief and the fear, though hopeful life never grew in my nest. The “land / of milk and honey and knowledge / kindling light” no longer exists in the USA though many people and resources hold potential. We try to escape, and, failing that, try to amass enough of both to provide safety and a strong front of resistance. Meanwhile the potential of creation erodes.
I too, share Thotpurge’s hope that justice is serviced, but unfortunately, it won’t bring back Srinivas Kuchibhotla, to his family and friends. Having experience, what ignorance based hate, can do to one’s soul and body. Wish, I could say, your poem is the final word, on this subject matter, but I know better. Thank you, Sumana.
I can identify with that idea of wailing in vain. What an absolutely devastating situation…fueled by so much racist rhetoric in this country right now. So many immigrants follow their dreams to this country. The land of milk and honey, I fear, is on the way to becoming a nightmare if something does not change.
(P.S. — And many, MANY of us were horrified at the death of this young man!)
Its terrible what happened, that young man certainly did not deserve to be a victim of cruelty and racial prejudice! What is our world coming to… 😦
O let not fear reign! These are terrible times, no doubt about it, but if we let fear reign, then we simply cannot go on.
So many sad needless deaths. Yes, we older ones wail in vain. But wail we must, at such a waste of youthful promise.
Your words are eloquent and truthful. It is good to honor the young man who was shot, for nothing but his ethnicity. In my sadness, I feel all I can do is spread kindness and love in my own tiny part of the universe…..but then if everyone did that there’d be no more tragedies like the one of which you speak.
I think you have the wisdom, Bev.
Oh Sumana, how beautifully you honor this young man. How I wish he hadn’t earned his honor with his death. Yes, I am old and i wail.
the easy flow of your words show how easily someone can slip into such a dark place – so well matched for this theme Sumana
A heartfelt poem of compassion and grief. I feel the fear.
Yes, we all look on fearfully now at what is happening, perceiving that such terrible incidents are far from isolated.
A very sad tale.
Depressing realities….racism, violence murder…I did not know of this. Will check it out. Hate to be a Cassandra but I have a feeling things are going to get worse in USA.
Air is thick with a fatal mixture of fear and hate.
How is it that a very small and hateful minority can instil fear and intimidation into th ehearts of the majority… For the majority of people in any country are kind and good. Are we so powerless to reform that small proportion of people that seed fear into the hearts of many and poison their lives?