Rotten Daffodils

One throat slit in Bosnia,

One daughter raped in Chechnya,

One father shot in Nazi Germany,

One teary eyed mother in Jerusalem,

One burnt monk of Tibet,

One roasted man in Burma,

Yes, all know we have

achieved much greater than this.

Proudly, we have crossed

the limits

of our own capabilities,

But for the time being, one,

only one, just one of all these,

is enough to shame humanity

before its Creator,

And you kill children?

You kill children, too?

These children,

these rotten daffodils,

these futures crushed under our past,

spare them. They do not deserve

this punishment.

First published in the World Peace E-Anthology (2013)