by Ilyas El-Amin
Questions From The Bottom Of My Soul
Too Muslim to be American,
too American to be Muslim
Too awake to sleep,
too angry to weep
Too connected to disconnect,
too independent to claim any sect
Too pessimistic to fall for hope,
too sober to f*ck with dope
I sit teetering on the edge of forever,
titillating from uncertainty
Stepping on the cracks of reality,
forsaking sanity
There is nowhere I can go,
nowhere to run nor hide
where these thoughts don’t rule my mind
Why is, are, does…
Our world is filled with fear and pain,
suffering rests on everyone
War on the lips, peace at the fingertips,
walking talking hypocrites
Corrupted leaders, illiterate readers,
speaking and teaching believable lies
Hearts filled with hate,
religions worshipping the same God full of debate
Bigots and thieves slotted to lead,
while the honorable are bruised, burned and bleed
Wars fought in the name of greed,
while we sit complaining numbed and distracted by legal weed
The earth gets raped, pillaged and drained of life,
for the sake of convenience despite what’s right
Corporations allowed to wantonly thrive,
while the average family can barely survive
Working for pennies and paying millions remain the norm,
as a path plotted from the day we are born
Truth is…
Exhausted we lean in reaching for strength and support,
In lieu of strength, we’re offered crutches: Budweiser and Newport
We are in a time when we’re tiring of governmental idiosyncrasies,
so on our hands we sit waiting for little reprieves
Encouragement comes with words like pull up your bootstraps or roll up your sleeve
Tears flow on the face of the sincere,
as frowns grow on the face of those who are more aware
The tyrant’s grimace stretches with each blow,
that lands on the abused child below
Whose subjugated to a system determined to enslave,
entrap and keep them under thumb
Teaching them emptiness to ensure they remain dumb
Deaf, blind and controlled, insisting they remain enthralled with programmatic, systematic institutions disguised as education, entertainment and freedom
Why is, are, does…
Walking through the hood
considered as up to no good,
unless you’re white then walking is respected and understood
White people in charge of it all
did the rest of us miss it when God made that call
The age of enlightenment feeling so damn dark,
public emasculation hitting its mark
People imprisoned for a victimless crime,
while violent officials are rewarded with vacation time
Prisons over-filled with melanin skin,
as if melanin itself is the person’s sin
Question…
What is it we must do in order to stop playing the fool,
literally drowning with no water inside an empty pool
When will we open our hearts to what our eyes behold,
and stop believing the dazzling bullsh*t we’re being told
To have visions that understand the miracles that mundanity encapsulates,
everyday life perpetuates, the truth instigates
Entrapped by ego’s call is humanity destined to fall
Why is, are, does…
The activist silenced forgotten behind bars,
meanwhile chem-trails are still blocking stars
Poison in our food and the water we drink,
no wonder people don’t f*cking think
Everyone on this fluff of “let’s just love”
waiting for an intervention to come from above
Truth so damn hard to enact,
can we not see that warmongers have solidified a pact
The few that sit at the epi-center of pain allowed to persist,
while millions kneel refusing to resist
People distracted by screens of every shape and size,
fooled into believing “social” media lies
The world aloof of which way it should go,
to fix the problems and globally grow
A past of separatism ingrained in the consciousness of us all,
as a species we should be walking but barely we crawl
Why is, are, does…
Rebellion dies at the end of a poem
or is only actionable on a zafu while chanting “ommm”
For more self-study, The Urban Howl recommends The Anatomy of Peace: Resolving the Heart of Conflict.
So. Powerful. Wow. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Your rhythm and rhyming is brilliant. Would love to hear this put to a voice. Blessings.
Thank you very much! I really appreciate your encouragement. An audio is an idea I have also considered. Maybe it will be?
What Tanya Markul said! Sadly relevant and poignant. I could definitely hear this filling a room with awe and goosebumps. Peace and love to you.
Thank you! I am glad that you enjoyed the poem. Peace and love to you as well.
Wow, impressive! What a strong piece. Thanks Ilyas 🙂
Thank you 🙂