Saturday, February 11, 2006

Peace & Its Discontents*

Here! Right here!
Let’s draw a line
and reach an understanding
albeit hesitant
that we will not
step across it.

But then who is to decide
what is righteous?
The loose ends, the cul-de-sacs
in the labyrinth in our heads
often spill on to the other side;
barbed spaces
where our tolerance resides.
And then the discontent,
fermenting underneath with gnomic intent,
like Azaan at the crack of dawn
will pierce through this uneasy peace,
shattering it
long after stillness has settled
in our clattering teeth.

© Dan Husain
February 11, 2006

* A tribute to Edward Said. It is the title of one of the books he wrote on the Israeli-Palestinian Peace accord. This is for the passing away of a truly great scholar.

6 comments:

Φ said...

Strong words dan..

esp.. in the labyrinth in our heads
often spill on to the other side;
barbed spaces
where our tolerance resides

Inkblot said...

Marvellous. Straight in the face. true as hell.

Blue Athena said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Pincushion said...

Peace riding the labyrinths of hell and back?
maybe..for thats the world for you!
This is more peircing than an arrow, Dan..fabulous!

kaaju katli said...

Very hard-hitting. Who indeed is to decide what is righteous.

Peace bro!

Anonymous said...

Dear Dan Bhai,
Assalamualaikum:) Its me, the dialysis doc:)
All i will do is quote a poem of Rumi :)
All the best for your work and thoughts, see u soon. Insha-Allah
May Allah swt reward you with the fruit of your hard work and aspiration.



I am part of the load
Not rightly balanced
I drop off in the grass,
like the old Cave-sleepers,
to browse wherever I fall.
For hundreds of thousands of years
I have been dust-grains
floating and flying
in the will of the air,
often forgetting ever being
in that state, but in sleep
I migrate back. I spring loose
from the four-branched,
time -and-space cross,
this waiting room.

I walk into a huge pasture
I nurse the milk of millennia

Everyone does this in different ways.
Knowing that conscious decisions
and personal memory
are much too small a place to live,
every human being ,streams at night into the loving nowhere,
or during the day,
in some absorbing work.