Poetry

Julien Harneis photo

By

Gerry Sikazwe

Am I A Coward?

If I refuse to point a rifle at another’s face

Or slit throats of brothers peacefully asleep

Or bomb a village with fireworks massacring the young learning to crawl

If I refuse to hone a weapon to end someone’s life

Am I really a coward?

If I decide to not answer anger with anger,

Or assume someone is responsible for my misfortune

Or to embrace divergent diversity

If I decide to erase violence as a method

of conflict resolution

Am I really a coward?

If today I pronounced that peace is stronger than wars

Or that well crafted words and deeds

are better ammunition

Or that we should clothe life its royal reverence deserving it, preserving it

Am I really a coward?

Gerry Sikazwe

Gerry Sikazwe is a Zambian poet. He is currently studying at the University of Zambia pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Adult Education. He manages a poetry page on Facebook and a poetry blog. His peoms have been featured on sites such as Dissident Voices, AfricanWriter.com, In Between Hangovers, Mshikamano.com, Nthanda Review and Tipton Poetry Journal.