Double Standard

Who are they to invade our land and commit unspeakable acts of terror,
Killing women and children alike?
Who are they to plant the seeds of foreign values on our native soil
And decide for us
If we should live or die?
In whose name do they perpetrate such crimes,
And by what heinous belief are they possessed
That they should be so callous
To our basic rights,
When so many lives hang in the balance?
Who can ignore
The blood on their hands
And the stain in their hearts,
Which can never be washed away
With rationalizations and excuses?
Who can justify
The heritage of grief
Bequeathed to the innocent
Who mourn for the loss of their loved ones?
Who can remove the fear and the pain,
Etched in our memories
For generations to come?
Who are they
And to what alien God do they owe allegiance –
A God so fierce and wrathful
That he would turn against us like an angry serpent,
Striking our mortal flesh
With a swift and mighty retribution,
Penetrating the thick-skinned exterior
Of our double standard,
And poisoning us with our own venom?

Sanur, Bali 
December 2015