POEM_: Doctrinaire Mindfulness?

Is it merely that
I am a little brat
inside this middle-aged exterior,
a little fool
who never grew up,
who will not accept
any authority?
Or is it that,
I am a mindful enough
human being
who rejects, being directed
by a doctrine,
no matter which?

Why do I reject
the demand of doctrinaire Islam,
which asks me to keep
a beard-length, of a fist and a half,
and condemn, some tasteless
cartoons, printed
half the world away?

Or of doctrinaire Nationalism,
that asks me to watch
a mindless game of cricket, and find it
more important
than the suffering
all around me?

And equally, the demand of doctrinaire
Mammonism, which asks me to
(shave every day, and)
find ways of exploiting
all
in order to gain more wealth,
the only acceptable end
for all,
Mammonites,
and otherwise?

- owais

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