The Immigration Act
of 1917,
barred
"all idiots & imbeciles,
feeble-minded persons,
epileptics,
insane persons,
... persons with chronic alcoholism;
paupers,
& professional beggars,
and those with tuberculosis"

It barred ...
"felons,
polygamists,
prostitutes
& their traffickers."

Trump & Bannon's
Immigration Act of 2017
bars Muslims,
able-bodied Muslims,
needy Muslims,
starving Muslims,
fleeing Muslims.

Muslims in refugee camps,
student doctor Muslims,
short-sighted Muslims,
limping Muslims,
school-teacher Muslims,
ordinary Muslims,

in a word,
Muslims.

Just in case,
you know,
just filling you in,
a word in your ear,
having a little
mention
& such,

Muslims breathe air,
like snacks,
wear clothes,
bite into apples,
make babies,
just like us.

Some like soccer,
Monopoly,
Spongebob Squarepants,
even going for
a short walk,
actually
just
like us.

They too marvel
at the starry night sky,
caress soft fur,
love their children,
read books,
like music,
which is
just
like us.

The fact
this needs
pointing out,
is a tragedy
of such proportion
that my poem
just ends
right
here …

Donald Trump has slammed the door
on families that had to flee
from zealots who perverted faith
and turned them into refugees.

He made a list of seven lands
where free will's treated as a sin.
Their people flee to squalid camps
until a new land lets them in.

But Donald Trump has made it clear;
he hates on basis of belief.
He's stoking ignorance and fear,
inspiring terrorism's grief.

These refugees have nothing left
but hope and will to work so hard
to build a free and better life,
but now they've been locked out and barred.

What of the Muslims in the states
who patriotically defended
the land whose leader now spews hate?
Is all their hope and love now ended?

Someday, if karma catches Trump,
he'll lose it all and have to flee.
Let him experience, first-hand,
the tears of the refugee.

...THE STRUGGLE...

What does your heart know?
          how does your heart feel?
                why do you deny your heart?
                       the call, calling, the feeling that calls you to purpose...


...Jihad?

Tell me,
is projection
of weakness?

Enough,
to stop
actions of
a strength?

Allah has brought my heart to bear,
          become a witness to an Arab plight.

The call to arm's it beckons so...
          division it aches and cremates the care.

Oh Great Holy Prophet show me today,
          as sadness covers heart, soul and mind.

Let judgement pass before it's too late,
          redeem my soul or the martyr's way?

In creature comforts of the West; I ponder.
     As my heart strays eastward.
           My star in the East?

"If there be a God..."
       He must be capable of entering men's hearts,
             they in turn bear witness to human suffering.

If this is so.
    How can our brothers in Syria be suffering?
             Why have they been forsaken?

"If there be a God?"
       If there be a God.
           If there be a God.
                              Allah?