“When
the Thoughts went Red “
Or
“The wages of fear and the revolution of hope “
Behold the mother earth,
witness the destruction,
The cries of agony that have
become a gruesome familiarity.
Chaos reigns supreme on the
playgrounds,
Where once new dreams sprouted
green.
Justice to money and
injustice to man.
Yet we are numb to these
sorrows of pain
We turn a deaf ear and a
blind eye
We turn a helpless hand to
the needy
Are we so soul-less that we
have become unaware-?
To the stench of the corpse?
The corpse of a society
filled with dread and death.
People have lost hope – The
will to fight on.
The life blood to live on in
these dark times.
There may be prophets who
preach of a better time to come,
That people who suffer now
will be rewarded in afterlife.
But people need more than
people who clutch books,
Preaching “blessed are the
meek” to instill hope.
So then what? You may ask-
Should we pick up the axe?
Fight fire with fire?
NO ! That would be giving
into madness.
Blood however spilled is
still red,
Red with anger, rage and
corruption.
One must never give into this
chaos.
For then the war will forever
be lost.
This is true that there is
something terribly wrong with this world.
But it isn’t something that
we can’t fix.
We need to go back – look
into thy hearts
Stare into the mirror of
consciousness
Seeking the root of this
wrong.
It was fear – fear made us
weak.
The fear of losing oneself
and love
The fear of standing up for
what is right
This fear made us slaves to
it’s will
We surrendered our wills at
it’s feet.
The integrity of one’s
opinion compromised.
Integrity – The last inch of
a man.
It is small, it is fragile-
Yet it is the soul of one’s
humanity.
Identity and freedom flow
from it’s fount.
And now our freedom is
subordinated by fear
Not the freedom of the
republic
But the freedom of life and
love
For freedom is not bound by
physical lines
It is a perspective and a way
of life.
Now it is bound by the chains
of fear.
The time has come to break
these chains.
To regain our integrity, to
inspire hope.
But how? How do we face this
terror?
For a man is mortal and can
be gunned down.
Yet it only takes a man to
win the battle.
A man to devote himself to
the ideals
To be a light in this valley
of darkness
To make himself a legend – an
example
To remind us that ideas are
bulletproof,
Ideas are eternal and last
forever
Even after the man, who gave
them is lost in memory
Ideas will live on in the
hearts of men.
Remember words offer a means
to meaning.
They form perspectives and
visions.
Take these ideals, live them,
and become incorruptible.
Long live revolution – The
revolution of Hope, not of blood.
Remember there is still good
in humanity.
Find it in your brothers and
sisters.
Take it, preserve it, and let
it prosper.
Water it with love and
friendship.
Watch it flower the seeds of
hope in man.
Let the children play in the
grounds again.
Let the birds of peace fly
again.
Let joy, happiness, love and
comfort hold sanctuaries
In the heart of our
descendants, generations hence.
Let us end the days of darkness.
There is a bright day and a
new joy
O’er the horizon after the
storm.
I lay down my life for that
better world.
Where the man comes before
money.
Where no man will cry out in
agony.
Where love is the religion of
all.
Where peace and justice will
be more than just a word
But a perspective and a way
of life!
I lay down my life for that
world.
“It
is a far, far better thing that I do,
Than
I have ever done
It is a far, far better rest I go to,
Than
I have ever known”
Elvin Johnpaul
"This is the poem that won me the 1st prize in the English poetry writing competition in the Kerala University Youth Festival 2015 held on 18th March 2015 at FMNC Kollam "
Elvin Johnpaul
"This is the poem that won me the 1st prize in the English poetry writing competition in the Kerala University Youth Festival 2015 held on 18th March 2015 at FMNC Kollam "
