By Sanjeev Naik

I.
History they say returns in
disguise - and though we may have
seen death, ('the destroyer of worlds') ²
we do not relent - 'the nuclear sword
of Damocles' forever drawn - an arsenal
to abuse, threaten, and God forbid - use
in cowardly desperation.


II.
The rhetoric of words
to shield the ignominy of their
actions - greed and avarice shrouded
with lies and impassioned speeches
of misplaced patriotism. A false sense of
security to tuck us into oblivious bliss
- how easily the ignorant can be misled!


III.
Can anyone explain why
we need to wage war to keep the peace,
collect weapons to secure the future,
flex arms to contain the "rogues",
destroy and eliminate
to save the planet?


IV.
'Arise, awake, and stop not
..till your goal is reached' ³
- we have nothing to lose but our
existence - mere words won't feed
the sarved nor cure the sickly. No defence
shield required to fight this war - just the
inclination to lift this fog of ignorance.

  Sanjeev Naik 
  June 9th, 2001
  Niagara Falls, USA.

1: Title of the book by Joseph Gerson, "With Hiroshima eyes : atomic war, nuclear extortion, and moral imagination", which I was reading when I wrote this poem. I "took" the phrase 'nuclear sword of Damocles' from this book.

2: Oppenheimer quoting from the Bhagwat Gita - "Now I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds." - after the first atomic bomb test at Trinity Site in New Mexico on July 16, 1945.

3: Swami Vivekananda's rally to the Indian nation, which was then under the rule of the British Empire.