Poem: "No, I'm Not"

© 1993 by Andersen Silva

Last updated 6-28-2022  


I reek of alien madness.
True, I look like one of you,
     Physically, I am human,

But inside my heart and my mind
     Have mutated, thanks to you.
How can I feel at one with a race
That hates on the basis
     Of skin color, of language,
     Of gender, of sexual orientation,
And even of religion?

You show reckless disregard for each other,
     And for your home, Mother Earth.
She will outlive you all
     A millionfold.

Too much hatred; self-destructive.
Learn to love, or at least
     To tolerate. Your race will be gone
Inside of 500 years,
     Unless you become one.
The race as a whole
     Is more important
Than any one man, woman, or child.

And what of me?
I am the cosmic comic,
     Fated to watch you,
     And laugh, and cry,
     And curse you for fools.
I can't hope to change you,
For our ways of thinking are so
     Radically
DIFFERENT.
I can only Preach,
     And hope to strike a spark in your minds.