I, too, Anger

It may just be

I have to tell the world I am a man.

That I have blood in my veins

And bones, muscle and sinew.

I breathe, I exist, and when I see injustice

I, too, anger.

When I see my mother my son

Held at gunpoint, my sister raped,

My pregnant wife shot

I, too, anger.

When I see the occupier’s boots crush down on my land

When I see my brother’s blood mix in the sand

I, too, anger.

But when I take up the gun

When I put the enemy on the run

I’m an enemy of the people

And I have no right to anger.

When I fight the men who bomb my town

Who turn our lives upside down

Divide brother against brother

It’s news no longer.

I’m a dead ender, I’m a beast

A child-killing raghead terrorist

And those who would rule over us

Have a right to anger.

It’s time I said I am a man

It’s time I said I will and can

It’s time I said I will shed my blood

But I will prove to the world

That I, too, anger.

Copyright B Purkayastha 2007