There is a new war now-
People are dead.
An old wine in a new bottle
and new hands.
It is still served out the same way
still swallowed the same way-
though the contents turned
into vinegar a long time ago.
Everyone knows hypocrisy is best sweetened with
righteousness and eaten
on the burnt broken backs of
someone else’s home and history.
Have David and Goliath always been so cynical?
I don’t remember when these tired tropes
converted me.
--------
A video is shared:
“Vaishnav Jan Toh sung by
Shafqat Amanat Ali
on the 150th anniversary of
Mahatma Gandhi.”
I press play and a new
window appears.
For those who know-
they may understand why
my cupped hands strengthen and shake.
For those who don’t know, you see-
my country claims Gandhi on its currency
And is at war with Ali’s homeland.
The song is religious but it is
a boundary that is crossed
in service of what the song espouses:
faith,
empathy,
responsibility,
and goodness.
For those who don’t know,
I wish I knew how to share this feeling with you-
it is beautiful.
You see, the song was a famous favourite of the man who
became a symbol of peace,
a man who fought for our freedom before maps had boundaries,
a man who was just a man and yet belongs to us all.
As the song plays on the war goes on too.
Neither can bring back the dead,
or the homes destroyed,
or the history lost.
But for the few minutes the song plays-
there is no room for Good or Evil-
there is only space for
the quiet pain of beating hearts torn asunder
and a gentle faith that cuts through
the tyranny of holy wars.
The video below is Shafqat Amanat Ali's rendition of Vaishnav Jan:
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