white paper

i do not ask
for the sun and the moon from your sky
your farm, your land
your high houses or your mansions,
i do not ask for gods or rituals
castes or sects
or even for your mothers, sisters daughters
i ask for
my rights as a man
each breath from my lungs
sets off a violent trembling
in your texts and traditions
your hells and heavens
fearing pollution.

your arms leapt together
to bring to ruin our dwelling places
you will beat me, break me
loot and burn by habitation
but my friends!
how will you tear down my words
planted like a sun in the east?
my rights: contagious cast riots
festering city by city, village by village
man by man

for that's what my rights are
sealed off, outcast, road blocked, exiled
i want my rights, give me my rights

will you deny this incendiary state of things?
i will uproot the scriptures like railway tracks
burn like a city your lawless laws
my friends!
my rights are rising like the sun

will you deny this sunrise??
or is the sun also yours, along with the sky, all its stars
or am I not allowed to look at that all seeing sky
that you protect against, while we get drenched, baked and gradually wither off....