You The Orientalist - Vi Poem by Sadiqullah Khan

The saintly Greek, assumes not, pretends not.
Neither he conquers, and the things brought in
By the winds, south east, or west, or spice trade;
Helen of Troy eloped, to the Nile's bank, either
Physician from Egypt prescribes for headache.
Currents crossed, in the fertile delta, the dry land
Of Greece. They knew each other well, and thus
Had made laws, that the strangers be honored.

And you the orientalist, while in eastern splendor
In mysterious frankincense, linen, silk and wool,
Of your turbaned damsels, wine from ancient cellar.
When you rose the pen, you defiled, you
Descended from the newly won freedom, from
The Cross and tyranny, - thus let upon yourself, theft,
Plunder, and all evils, that you thought fair, and before,
That anyone could be aware, you had been making -
‘Inventories' and prizing yourself on your ‘discoveries'.

Sadiqullah Khan
Peshawar
July 13,2014.

A Royal Procession, India by Edwin Lord Weeks (1859 - 1903) United States @ Edwin Lord Weeks