I stand amongst the guilty

 By: Sister Fiddha

The tragedy is indescribable
But how shallow are our emotions
You are easily forgotten
Pigeon - holed for ten days
When tears flow
Only to subside
Like the wings of a mosquito.
The real emotion
The everyday trials
The boredom of life
The obligations
Forget you
Betray you
As if you had never been martyred
Were never there.
Why is our religion full of
Hypocrisy, pretension, ostentation
How much can we bleed for you
The prayers left unattended
But the blood flows from our bodies
The fun, the enjoyment of life consumes us
So much that we can say your name
Without pain
Anaesthetised by the world
Your mourning is a monthly injection
Which revives us for ten days
Not to worry
We will go back to sleep
It was only temporary
Like a beautiful statue
You are polished to perfection
For show
But soon your presence
On the shelf is forgotten
As more important things overtake you
You are only popular in Muharram
Like robots we wail and weep
At the right time in the right places
The women drift out of the mosque
Their eyes filled with tears
Cheeks stained with your suffering
But the faces are washed off
As Zainab's legacy is trampled on
As they rush to straighten their hair
For uni
Like a winter coat
You are shrugged off
Placed in the wardrobe
Till next year .
I am one of many
Who disgrace your name
What would have been my position if I was alive
One of the Kufans probably
Unaware of the consequence of their betrayal
But branded with the guilt.
The love for you is
Like saliva on the tongue
Its just surface
If I was true
Why do I sin.
If I was faithful why am I not consumed with grief
At your memory
When it passes through my mind
Why do words float around my body
Never settling into my heart
We will scrunch our faces
Compelling ourselves to cry
To gain the certificate of heaven
How much hatred we bear towards you
We are the greatest of betrayers
Because we acknowledge your status
And still defile it.