ABBAS, Shahid

Homeless

We are homeless

No shelter found under the naked sky

Our army is weak

Defending the indefensible

We are sick

Our elders worry

While kids scurry to and fro, and poor widows cry alone

The fields lie fallow in the cold

We feel alone

No welfare state

nor bon vivant political leaders able to help

We are homeless

Thrown from our abode

Our place of refuge

Our very identity lost

We go to pieces as our kids go to seed

Animals and birds die scrounging for a bit

Yet isn't we who created fertile ground for another extinction

People are shameless

We are homeless

But we will forever remember the jokers

Who enjoyed burning us to the ground