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Bigotry
A racist bigot on the pulpit
Pretends to preach the Holy writ,
On the surface his holy message
Can only breed anger and outrage,
But if you look deep into his cage
You'll see fear, anger and rage
Devouring his heart and soul
Demagogy gives him control
Over his anger and fear
At least to him thus appear.
But if we are more sincere
And look to the root of his fear
We'll see ignorant self-deceit
Camouflage itself as conceit.
If an illiterate you encounter
With anger and hate you won't counter,
Instead you will have compassion
Loving wisdom be your fashion;
Illiteracy you'll eradicate
Through loving wisdom and not hate.If we are compassionate and wise
We should surely realize
This is the nature of a porous mind
It will absorb what it will find.
To confront his rage with rage
Is not the way of the sage,
Confront hate with your soul force
This is the spiritual course,
His ignorant self-deceit
With loving wisdom you'll defeat.
To confront a porous mind
The best course is defined
As the path of non-resistance
Fighting will give him assistance.
A porous mind like a mop
Can only be used to clean up
Muck and scum on the ground
By spreading it all around.So my caring wise friend
You will find that in the end
If you ignore his vile message
And focus on your life's passage
Into the world you'll bring light
Thus with darkness you will fight.
© Shahriar Shahriari
Vancouver, Canada
August 18, 1997