Dispatches on Survival: With Respect to John Berger

That’s why someone builds up things
Brick by brick
They know six half truths would make a lie
And one truth may be persecuted
Between words and rumors.
A deed done in conviction
Though deplored and disputed by many
Would eventually stay to tell the truth
That’s why they say, ‘we grow old in our deaths
And martyrs grow young in their sacrifice.’
Fear and shame make one to look
Only at the world as big as his toe
Even if you call it selfishness
Where would he eventually look
Otherwise for his ultimate salvation?
The rubbles of one’s own life
Is the last weapon against the sophisticated weapons
Of the rumor mongers
When he pelts it at the invincible forces
He pelts his own life with force and rage.
That’s why I let each pedestrian pass by me
Overtake me and make me understand
My unworthiness in my security
Like a worm cocooned in its sticky philosophy.
That’s why I make my life a brick
With several others, in silence and shame,
To build the fortresses of endurance
Which have pictures of every martyr
Pasted on the walls with tears and blood.