Refugees Of Faith Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

Through the dark eyes they gaze sadly
at bombs exploding and breaking homes
while wounded and crying they keep running,
as gunshots keep echoing and dozens dying;
what does humanity believe in
how can death yield gains and glory?
how can the eyelashes hold back their tears
as deeply agonized are those that survive
to see their own brethren perishing
to those unexpected missiles and shrapnel.
How can their age-old belief of faith
be made to vanish from their veins?
how can anyone insist they convert
when their minds are unwilling
to relinquish their pristine faith?
how much it hurts to see them flee
mothers holding on to their children,
fathers holding on to despair,
without a place for peace or prayers,
they assemble at refugee camps,
while heavens keep watching helplessly
the bloodshed, the homeless people….
Distress sparks no enlightenment
that life is not about battles;
God is not about countries,
God is not about imposition,
God is the element greater than air and water
so necessary for us to hold on together
by one big worship called Faith-
faith of one self and faith of others
and that faith though of many,
leads us ultimately to one God.