They tell me it is your country, but
prove your love to keep the peace,
gift the land to us to please,
and obey the majority or cease.
They tell me it is your country but
as long as I don’t affirm my belief,
remain silent when in grief,
and mourn my history in silence.
They tell me it is your country but
to prove my nationalism
eat only what’s told,
pay for some ancestor’s reign,
and I cannot be trusted with my home.
They tell me it is your country as long
I can prove not to be an alien
from some planet yet unknown.
Dr Mudasir Firdosi is a Kashmiri psychiatrist, writer, and poet. https://twitter.com/drmfirdosi
SIGN UP FOR COUNTERCURRENTS DAILY NEWS LETTER
In the prologue of Bertolt Brecht’s drama, “The Caucasian Chalk Circle,” (p. 97), the Singer declares, “what there is shall belong to those who are good for it, thus/ The children to the maternal. . . the valley to the waterers.” IMHO, every community and its resources should belong to the mothers, fathers, workers and waterers who care for themselves, their children and their neighbors there. Large “countries” and especially empires tend to become exploitive. God bless you and your community, Dr. Firdosi; and may Kashmir continue to belong to the good people who live there and care for it.
Thank you for the kind words