yeh khuda hay na bhagwan m'ra

before foxa2* that furtive
fleeing, fleeting exchange
of the sperm-ovum owners
and an startled child grows

[litany: a pilot's target practice, cambodia, chechenya darfur, vietnam, iraq, afghanistan and new york famines, droughts, avian 'flu legionnaire's disease, west nile hepatitis, hiv aids innocent civilians caught in the vicious cross fire noah tsunamis, perhaps a few chromosome misfits like trisomy 21**]

the litany mushroom grows
amidst champagne festivities
in a world that is not round

ghalat samajhna mut mujh ko dost, yeh Khuda hay na Bhagwaan na God tumhara, m'ra, kisi ka

it is easy to invoke god
GWB's or OBL's?
the palestinian Allah
or the israelite Yahweh
our bed, our quarters, our mess
our bhagwaan, eeshwur, aur khuda
how can we outsource with such ease
our so revered creations?

*foxa2
** trisomy 21