You see, I speak for the voices that go unheard

In this world when they fade without a word.

So let me speak with the power I humbly wield

And the ignorance covering your ears shall yield.

-The P.O.E.T.

 

I am a simple Afghani man

Or that was what I planned

Though the world

Shuns me for my past

And though I have tried to right my wrongs

My past caught up

With such vehemence

And velocity at last

That it tears me apart

From top to bottom.

I am al Qaeda

Or I was and I thought I was

Until I turned away

As I chose to face another way

Away from a darkness

That gripped me even in my sleep.

I could not run, I could not hide

From the old bretheren of my old life.

I now live among my new bretheren in a new culture

Transfigured by strange values

Of moderization and change.

Have I found a new way to live

Or do I still harbor my shame and carry on?

But is it shame?

For the brothers I betrayed

Harbored only hatred masked by fear and anger

Toward something they could not perceive

Nor understand to comprehend.

And to join this new culture I sacrificed

My old bretheren's lives

But for what has it amounted?

I sacrifice my dignity among this new society

To betray brothers whom I once loved but now hate.

Now their disdain fills me with pain

And the cycle repeats over and over again.

Thus I sacrifice my honor to the old

And with the new I become bold

And declare these apparitions

Who haunt my living dreams

To face against a light

A light that seeks to destroy

Theirs darkest ploys upon this earth

That I was once apart of.

But still my new bretheren fail to accept my change

Their eyes filled with contempt, disdain

But I dimiss this to bring justice

To a world so intertwined

To think that I was once and only once

A simple Afghani man.

I walk the streets and the eyes

Of my new bretheren condemn me

For my past actions and my history

With me as their deepest fears.

As their enemy. But why not a friend?

And so the old secrets of my old life

Take flight from darkness to light.

My old bretheren perish.

My new bretheren look at me as if to see

Myself in a happy life

But I do not feel that could exist.

Surely never in this life.

And I walk the streets with my shame

As my actions and not my name

Carry the weight I continuously bear.

My brothers are now enemies

And strangers are still strange.

Enemies target me and others do not care.

My life has been threatened everywhere.

And yet I live anyways.

Why not?

I ride the bus and my past tries to kill me.

I see old brothers taking aim and firing at my heart

With pity and vengence.

No one stands up for me.

I am treated like scum.

An explosion and the bus stops dead.

Armed men enter and I know they are my brothers

But are not here to liberate my.

They come for blood.

Other's blood.

Innocent blood.