Poetry

Igor Ovsyannykov photo

By

Abu Sufian

Heartstrings of Aliens

There were wounds in mankind’s back,

Dating back hundreds of years—millennium

Of the grotesque sufferings of the marginalized

Of the defenseless,

Of the ones with prayers to God

Of the people denied an identity—a land where they belong

Of a people desperately seeking refuge.

Time’s wings have flown through the centuries,

We have emerged out as ‘liberal’, ‘democratic’, ‘humanistic’,

Flown our flags of ‘peace’, ‘justice’ and ‘equality’,

Valued life and liberty without ‘exceptions’!

But alas! Exception emerges!

Out of our own life-scattering borders

Out of the waving flags we bow with honor

Out of the ‘love of the land’ we count so dear

Out of the leaders’ whimsical and phony political commitment

Of the nationalistic rigor and senseless resentment.

We now exclude those in need;

Those fleeing deaths and bloods and wars,

Those, to us, are ‘aliens’!

The cry of the refugees fathom the deepest seafloor,

Outreach the heaven’s end,

But not us—not the ‘liberal’ leaders,

Not the ones with robes of pious attire.

The heartaches of refugees are unheard of,

The pains are concealed and buried under blind nationalism,

The anguishes are silenced by xenophobia;

The outcry is covered up on the screens, on the newsflash,

But the heartstrings of ‘aliens’ do not move our iron hearts’

Nor do they change our dogmas, our rules

To help the native ‘aliens’ and offer life;

Cause we are more proud to explore Mars

To discover ‘aliens’ beyond—the Martians

Than to shelter the known ‘aliens’ called humans.

Abu Sufian

Abu Sufian – who is also known as The Silent Poet – is a poet and writer. His poems have been published in literary journals including Scarlet Leaf Review, Criterion, Literary Voyage, The Literary Herald, Tuck Magazine and Clairvoyance. Sufian also contributed in four international poetry anthologies: Voice of Monarch Butterflies (2016), Apple Fruits of an Old Oak (2016), Where Are You From? (2017) and Dandelion in a Vase of Roses (2017).