Revenge

Taha Muhammad Ali’s “Revenge”

Revenge
At times ... I wish

I could meet in a duel

the man who killed my father

and razed our home,

expelling me

into

a narrow country.

And if he killed me,

I’d rest at last,

and if I were ready

—I would take my revenge!
*
But if it came to light,

when my rival appeared,

that he had a mother

waiting for him,

or a father who’d put

his right hand over
the heart’s place in his chest

whenever his son was late

even by just a quarter-hour

for a meeting they’d set

—then I would not kill him,

even if I could.
*
Likewise ... I

would not murder him

if it were soon made clear

that he had a brother or sisters

who loved him and constantly longed to see him.

Or if he had a wife to greet him

and children who

couldn’t bear his absence

and whom his gifts would thrill.

Or if he had

friends or companions,

neighbors he knew

or allies from prison

or a hospital room,

or classmates from his school...

asking about him

and sending him regards.
*
But if he turned

out to be on his own

—cut off like a branch from a tree

—without a mother or father,

with neither a brother nor sister,

wifeless, without a child,

and without kin or neighbors or friends,

colleagues or companions,

then I’d add not a thing to his pain

within that aloneness

—not the torment of death,

and not the sorrow of passing away.

Instead I’d be content

to ignore him when I passed him by

on the street

—as I

convinced myself

that paying him no attention

in itself was a kind of revenge.

NazarethApril 15, 2006

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Echoes:

I found this in Shambhala Sun.