Fatwas don’t cure faith.
Nor do dead kings return
to whip their men back home.*
Tremors hit unannounced;
rip away whatever is left
of our lives.
Nor do terrorists come
with bells factory-installed
round their necks.

Not even a thousand poems
can make us walk
hand in hand.

If only –
a tilt of 23½ degrees
a spelling change could correct...

* The Rastafarian cult of the African continent believes that a former dead ruler of Ethiopia will resurrect one day, and arrange for the return of all the descendants of Africa to the continent.

First published in The Journal of the Poetry Society (India), Vol. 12, No.1, Summer 2001