Shahriar Shahriari

Tell a Friend about this site Support This Site

 

Poems - Critique of Society - Group 1
On War

 

1. Size Doesn't Matter
2. Holy Land
3. War
4. The Soviets
5. National Borders

 

---

Size Doesn't Matter

As an observer during a meeting on fundraising
I heard many who gambling were praising|
As an effective technique, raising so much cash
Within a short time with ease, anything else was rash.

Someone said it's wrong on moral grounds,
On others' misfortunes raising cash it sounds.
Somebody else agreed, and said this should go
Instead we'd replace it with bingo,
Because in bingo the money is much less,
It is so much fun, and it is harmless.
Somebody else said if its wrong, its wrong;
To argue that its small, is not strong.
Thinking upon this, righting wrongs with size
Human psyche I now better recognize
Has a tendency to justify means,
Size is just one way to beautify scenes.
Yet the truth is truth, shining as a light;
No matter how small, a wrong can't be right.

I thought of other wrongs, of murder and rape;
That they are wrong, no argument can escape.
Killing one person we consider murder,
Yet killing thousands, duty of a defender;
We right these wrongs and many more,
Honor armed conflict, glorify war;
This is the case of a much larger wrong,
Herd mentality, hiding in a throng.

Rightness or wrongness is just a quality,
Size has nothing to do with this duality.
To consider size is ignorant immorality,
It can only serve to distort reality.

© Shahriar Shahriari
Vancouver, Canada
June 14, 1997

---

Holy Land

In a time before time
When people spoke in rhyme
There was a land divine
Eight tribes lived there or nine.
Holy men came from there
Holy word went everywhere.
Each tribe went its way
To mountain, desert or bay
Homes of wood or clay
Respect each other pay.

Then a time after that time
Somebody committed a crime
Each tribe drew a line
Said that yours and this mine
Respect they did cease
There grew an unease
Each tribe claimed to be
God's clan, chosen, free
And then there were wars
Murder, rape, deep scars
All trust was destroyed
Each with other annoyed
Love too was diminished
And compassion finished
They built many a wall
Townships surrounding tall
All imprisoned within
Afraid, hungry, thin.
A leader held up his chin
And with a mighty grin
Charged his people to know
That there is one way to go
A pre-emptive strike
Which would be unlike
All the things in the past
That had helped them last.
Power and might is the way
God's answer I pray
For we are the chosen tribe
Others cannot God bribe
And in our mighty drive
The better race will thrive.

There was a war in which
All the tribes God would teach
Millions were killed and more
And this opened the door
For each tribe to plan
To be the chosen clan.

And the time after that time
Politics a comic mime
All tribes drew their line
Separating yours from mine.
All tribes wanted to choose
In order not to lose
Being God's favored clan
All of them, man, woman;
So they each other blamed
Holy Land they all claimed
In the name of love and peace
Hatred the new disease;
Fighting was never ceased
Many more where thus deceased.

In this Holy Land divine
Where God's glory did shine
In the time before time
People in their prime
Did wholeheartedly believe
They had God given leave
To commit murder and kill
Children, parents at will
For it was the Holy Hill
That their lives would fulfill.
Even in the name of love
God's word from high above
Rape and murder and kill
Man, woman, child, at will;
Yet such hypocrisy
These tribes did not see.

And so they are no more
Even though strong before.

In the time after time
People don't speak in rhyme.
History itself repeats
Time before and after cheats
All those who thus praise
Idols of all forms raise
Holy Land, sacred, divine.
Mother earth is yours and mine
Let's stop hypocrisy
Let us see what we can see
Else again no more free
Onto death slaves be.

© Shahriar Shahriari
Vancouver, Canada
May 5, 1997

---

War

Often we confuse morality
And replace it with legality.

We often compromise
And tell small white lies,
But a lie is just a lie
No matter how hard we try
To cover our wolf's sin
With a white sheep skin.
In the end we will lose
If ourselves confuse.
If we consider killing
Wrong, and we are willing
To give up murder and death
Put away in one breath,
Then we should just refuse
Governmental abuse,
To support military
Causing us much to worry
About destruction and war
With nations near and far.

If killing in war is right,
What about a private fight?
One we call illegal
Hail the other as regal;
Both are but one thing
One devour, other sting.
Expedient mentality
Only brings fatality;
To avoid confusion
And break the illusion
Displace legality
Embrace morality.

© Shahriar Shahriari
Vancouver, Canada
June 14, 1997

---

The Soviets

The Soviets had been brainwashing their people for over seventy years
Generations were born, raised and died to communist prayers
To the materialistic self-serving god of the commune
Not one city, not one village, not one person was immune;
Yet by negating the innate human morality
Came crashing down The Wall of brutality.

Still we fail to see our own godless materialistic system in the West
In every respect, in every way it is failing its every test
Ample examples of brutality, disaffection, injustice and unrest
Good to treat the symptoms, but to prevent the disease is the best.

© Shahriar Shahriari
Vancouver, Canada
June 21, 1997

---

National Borders

Not by one person can be denied
National borders that we deride
Only serve to people divide,
Until such time as we decide
To put national borders aside
And do away with national pride.

Look upon the humankind
With one heart and one mind.

© Shahriar Shahriari
Vancouver, Canada
July 13, 1997

---