journey through

RAPTURE, RAPTURE, and I knew that the messiah was coming. I looked into myself and saw a chimney full of soot. My broom to find I could not, and I knew my testimony had long been prepared, and life had kept scores of my deed and my circumstance. I heard the trumpet sound, and I saw the saints walk ahead. I could not follow them, for my clothes were red and dripping, and while they smelled of sweet incense, I reeked of poison. My sins trailed me like an unwanted shadow, and my hands refused to hide my face. I ran into a house to seek respite, and there I saw a fan that had long stopped moving, and windows caked with dust. It reminded me of a place I had long abandoned, of circumstance I had long taught myself to forget. Looking back into my house, I could see the walls written in blood, scrapped by fingers, of the torture I wrought. The floor was dotted with shattered mirrors and broken dreams, a testimony of how I lived, a precursor to how I’ll die. Rapture, rapture, have mercy on my ...

For a man who cannot stomach violence, maybe because I am afraid of being clobbered or that I cannot fight, I find this idea quite interesting. How does a grown-up man, with 32 teeth fight a fellow man over a girl? It was an embarrassing scene, men in clean, white shirts rolling on the ground, on top of each other, exchanging blows and hurling unprintables, and the girls watched, aghast, at these men who would become their husbands, boys who would become their boyfriends. Children were cheering the two grownups, and I pity them, for I know not where they will hide their faces when they have to traverse these streets again. Come to think of it, I believe it is time we got our priorities straight and stopped fighting over fickle things. There are ways to solve conflict, without having to involve arms. As man grows up, he gains intellect, sheds off his young and stupid self, and with it, foolish behaviour departs. Taking a look at matters today however, some of these illicit behaviours...