[Alowyn]: 224.Poetry.A Youth Day Poem

While I was just relaxing outside
An old bearded man came to me
walking stick in hand
dressed all in white.
Arise! He said. Come join your brothers in arms!
I looked at him and stretched,
but got up only out of respect.
Brothers? I asked. Arms?
Yes, said he. Behold the dawn of a new age,
a new prophecy!
He explained the message to his followers
and said that I could become part of his cause
If I was sincere and devout.
And what was in store?
The lands of the evil men were to be conquered
and their lands would be ours
and there would be peace and prosperity.
For that he wanted me to fight.
I said to him
Father, don’t be absurd.
For what peace or prosperity would come?
Only to those who follow your message, and your god.
Certainly those conquered will not benefit, be they evil or not
But you would judge them so.
Silence, he said, and listen!
For I bear a message of God Himself.
If you desire proof it shall come to be.
But need you any proof that those men in the east are evil?
Certainly by any standards they are!
For how they treat their women
and how they punish their crimes
and how they choose their leaders.
Look now, again they fight amongst themselves
when they cannot or do not fight us, or your people.
The last comment stung; I had brothers and sisters in that war.
Still I spoke:
That they fight is an evil act,
How they punish is an unjust law,
and how they treat their women is misguided -
still I cannot call them all evil, nor consider them evil men.
For there may be good amongst them; besides, who am I to judge them?
I will not ask for miracles to prove your message:
If your God is truly powerful and just,
he should not need followers to do his bidding.
And if your God calls upon me to fight a war that need not be
I will seek counsel from my own meditated conscience first.
This he did not like, he thrashed his walking stick with anger.
Fool! Would you see your morality above that of God’s Law?
I answered, I know no morality nor God’s Law
But what I experience. And it is my duty to do the best that I can
If not that, it is my duty to fight for a world that I see as just,
and not be subject to some other will. For your God made me independent to think
And to judge. Then he must accept my judgment over my own life.
To attain peace and prosperity, say I, I will serve peace, understanding, and a basic justice
applicable to all, not only the good, not only to my kinsmen,
but to all fellows. That is my best judgment.
The old man spat on the ground and walked away. Before he left, he shouted,
Fool! You are young and ignorant and naive. You know nothing! Do not act like the world rests upon your shoulders.
And I answered him: I may be young and ignorant, but I am learning, and there will come a point where I may stop learning, and the world will have to start. For the world rests on my shoulders as well as all other fellows:
And I have a duty to do my best for this world, as all do.