Liar

[Umm Hurairah]

Liar




The rebel can taste it
In the blood on his lips,
Bloody pulp smashed
By the hand of oppression.
And the dying man
Can touch it
As he passes into eternity.
And a slave
Can drink it in
And
love
every
drop.
And the immigrant
Can see it from afar,
Taunting, fleeting, illegal.

This is a message
For all the liars
Who say that
Freedom is abstract
And it isn’t something
You can
Touch
Taste
See
Smell
Have.

(1997)

Zeba Khan