WHOSE LAND?

Whose land? - art by Luro 


a mass of land 
a deep yet shallow sea
a patch of grass 
a strip of peace
a thirst for violence 
a hunger for love 
no roads to your home
no boundaries demarcated 
no maps or globes
with scales and legends 
no states or countries 
to mark your territory 
no borders to cross
no weapons to fight with 
no transport to travel 
no food to end the war 
inside your stomach 
no sirens to lift the curfew 
no signs of power 
the lonely are always the loneliest 
the night is always the darkest 
a chaotic atmosphere 
filled with calmness
we fight for what's not ours to own 
yet we call it ours 
we enjoy at the cost of others' suffering 
and we think we are "Winners" 
breathing the air or false victory. 
invasion and annexation:
a cyclic process, a form of hatred 
to annihilate and conquer
what is not rightfully ours. 
what was once 
a no-man's land is
now a breeding ground 
yet we rant about population explosion
killing ourselves and others in this process
spilling blood like never before 
we hear cries and moans from afar
as we shift our gaze to complacency 
lynching people, setting fires all around 
revolvers with silencers 
to shoot without noise 
hand grenades in your pocket 
and dynamites in your backpack 
we sing songs of belonging 
and take oaths to treat everyone the same 
we pledge allegiance to unity 
and use numbers to divide 
our mathematical skills 
deserve to be praised 
whose country is this ?
whose land are you stepping on ?
where will you live when you don't 
have the place to stay? 
did we make this very land 
that we bravely claim as ours? 
or did we occupy this piece called land 
by removing its people? 
our tongues may not speak
the same language 
and our hearts may not beat the same way
the texture of our hair may not be the same 
and our skin tones may vary 
even so, we are not very different. 
are we ?

- Luro 



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