Motherlands, Fatherlands,
Holy Lands, Promised Lands,
Homelands, Dirty Hands!
Borders dissembled by race, faith, or tangled DNA strands
boasting accidents of birth born of random circumstance
manifest destinies contingent solely on chance.
Hence once upon a time a wise rebbe opined
while assessing the dawn of true human kind:
Forsake foreign identities in the face of an Other
for a kinship relation seen as your sister or brother.
The Arabian Prophet presented a similar theme as well
in performative dimensions rather than inherited cells
whence he revealed there can be no coercion in matters of belief
which theocracies promptly jettisoned to provide them with relief
from accountability for a nobility naming haves and have-nots
who maintain status quo through butchers, gas, and gun shots.
Thus beware of kneeling before gods you create
whether in identities, scripture, or political states
equalize your moments – each and every one
by editing past presents in future nows to come
and as you lay claim to be truly noble and pure
apply a balm to the heart before you race for the cure
one that unites us rather than casts you alienated and apart
like the uselessness of a nag placed behind the apple cart
instead bind the threads of narratives that invariably begin and end
between which we personalize inherited themes, memes, and trends
making mediating consensus a call for the highest art forms
molding selflessness and compassion into societal norms.
Kevin James
Kevin James, age 67, resides in Brooklyn, NY, USA. He is a retired New York City firefighter, arson investigator, and attorney who was one of several Muslim Americans profiled in the PBS documentary Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet. He’s also a former Revson Fellow where he participated in Columbia University’s 9/11 Oral History Project and later graduated from Columbia Law School.