Silence: In the name of us

The world

Is not a big enough 

For us

To run away and find
Peace.

Let's not pretend

That silence

Isn't its own type of

Violence.

The quiet of our sleep

Rests on the voices

That were smothered

By the black tapes of guns

And silver tongues

Of righteousness.

Brothers,

I cannot pretend

To know your lives

Of hiding under beds

Wondering if these days 

Are the last. 

I cannot pretend

My life has not been 

Gold and
Silver and
White-

While yours has been

Yellow and
Black and
Red.

I cannot pretend

There isn't a chasm between us-

That we call ourselves brothers

As my bed has been made

With the bloodstains of yours.

So I shall not pretend.

But as they spread

Their legs to split our worlds

From each other,

Dear brother,

Know that this time

I will not run away-

I must not-

I cannot.

For every time they strike you

In the name of us

They make a monster of me

As I sit in silence.

Dear brother, 

The end of you 

Is the end of everything good

In the rest of us.

KASHMIR
Sandeep Chetan/Flickr