No you can’t win.
There is no brick wall
to separate your faith
from the neighbor’s lord.
No field of energy
to keep your border
from yet another
desperately murderous horde.
And everyone must pay.
Women must be stripped
of their cherished physique
and hidden away.
Men must endure
the humiliation
of no bread, no meat,
begging on their doorway.
Travelers’ eyes
must dart from window
to plush window
and lower to the ground.
No, it’s not right,
and the best proof I know
for the loneliness
of the human race.
jam12
Cover photo by Arash Karimi 2010