Poem: My Humble Request To The Bellicose Rulers Of The World! Poem by Navaratnam Giritharan

This is my humble request
to the bellicose rulers
of the world.

Do you know Ashoka?

Ashoka the great,
a great Indian emperor
who ruled the country
two thousand years ago.

He, a warmonger
became a great
peacemonger.

He, a warrior
became a great
pacifist.

He fought a bloody
war in Kalinga.

A war of destruction.

A war of
great human tragedy.

Ashoka the great,
a great Indian emperor
witnessed the human
tragedy which he himself
caused.

Witnessing the
war and its effects,
affected him
profoundly;
changed him
forever.

Ashoka, a man of war
became a man of
love; a man of
peace.

Two thosand years ago
a war changed him
into a peace loving
man, a Buddhist.

You Demagogues,
You Hypocrites,
You warmongers,

how many wars
Have you, rulers
of the modern world,
waged
in the name of
peace;
in the name of
language;
in the name of
religion;
in the name of
nationalism.

My humble request
to you, bellicose rulers
of the world, is
this:

When are you
going to learn
a lesson
from the past;
from the story
of Ashoka,
a great Indian emperor,
who ruled the country
two thousand years ago?