Piker Press — Weekly Journal of Arts and Literature
April 27, 2026

Stop Slaughtering the World

"...Turns out that the entire world weeps..."

Stop Slaughtering the World

When I saw the orphan was mute
the widow hesitated to run
the instant she stopped hearing his moaning.
Turns out that the entire world weeps
-- continuously at the headless corpses.

We struggle with influential words,
We die by the death penalty with no empathy,
We fight with ineffective missiles and weapons,
We die like a tree that falls in the woods alone.
We die proudly for preferring to stand up in peace.

O enemy, why do I perceive my blood rusting your dagger?
I donated my spirit to procure you back to your family
This world taught me to treat you like a welcoming guest
I want to hug you with your horrible knife stabbing my flesh
just listen to my last words, will you stop slaughtering the world?

Shake my blind father's hands without sharing sorrow
He bleeds with tears and dreams of a country that doesn't
-- terrify children, my imagination clarifies to me that I
will hear more laughter from my grandfather in the paradise
like the times when I heard birds singing and not the noise of fallen missiles.







Article © Ahmad Al-Khatat. All rights reserved.
Published in the July 25, 2022 issue .
Image(s) are public domain.
More by Ahmad Al-Khatat → More poetry → Full issue →
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