Dogma's Demise : Beneath the Banners

In solitude I dwell, amid the din  
Of zealots crusading, virtues to defend    
Whose righteous rage makes feeble voices dim    
As dissenters they seek to apprehend

They raise their banners high, their faith proclaim    
All others they denounce, deem evil, cursed    
No creed but theirs, they bellow, can reclaim  
The righteous path - all else must be coerced

"Destroy the infidels!" their battle cry    
Against those whose beliefs they view as flawed    
No mercy will these fanatics e'er try    
To understand what others might applaud

Their sense of right and wrong allows no doubt    
All questioning of tenets shut right out
     
The righteous path, by dogma shaped and bound   
Brooks no descent, or room for compromise    
Their "truth" must be by forced compliance found    
Dissenting minds, like weeds, they tyrannize

No curiosity, no scope for change    
Static, entrenched, by any means they'll fight    
To their conformist ways, dissenters estrange    
Their blinkered vision blinds them to the light

A multitude of paths can lead to good    
But righteous zealots only theirs acclaim    
In frenzied fervor, reason's chilled - they would    
Destroy all else in their faith's hallowed name

The humane heart embraces, uplifts all    
Their frantic fear of difference builds the wall
   
We grasp the swords and staves with fevered hands  
To smite the unbelievers, make them see   
The righteous path ordained by our demands  
All those who differ, we will tyrannize

Dissent is cursed, our dogma must prevail!  
Destroy the heretics who disobey!   
Our phobic fervor turns human hearts frail  
Reason and mercy we will cast away  

The righteous quest becomes an act of spite   
The search for truth warped into frenzied fight  
Where open minds should grow, instead we find  
A narrow harvest sown by fearful kind

Compassion chilled, diversity defamed   
In the crusaders' frenzied, fearsome name
     
Our creeds collide, discordantly clanged    
By righteous soldiers in their hostile throngs    
Each wielding words that slash and burn, harangued    
To battle for their faith with wrathful tongs

The quest for truth in rancor dissipates     
And zealous fervor fosters fear and hate    
Intolerance wraps righteous robes around    
Its trembling form, rejecting common ground

Dissent's dimmed down, dogmatic banners raised    
The light of understanding darkened, dazed    
Beneath the righteous boot that presses down    
A multitude of truths, that should have grown

But planted in the soil of fertile minds    
The sprouts of understanding fear no binds

The righteous road, by dogma sharply hewn    
Allowing not the slightest deviance    
From hallowed path, by faithful fervor strewn    
Its followers, in pious pageantry prance

No pausing to reflect, or perspective gain    
No opening of the heart, or of the brain    
Just frenzied fear of different, driving hard    
Against the threats beyond their guarded yard

Besieged within their narrow citadel    
Behind their battlements they rage and swell    
Belittling all beyond their circled wagons    
Banning diverse thoughts through brazen braggin'  

But build we must our human brotherhood    
On grounds more firm than faulty dogma could

With angry ardor, weapons raised on high     
We slander those who dare our truth defy    
No hint of mercy in our ruthless gaze    
As we denounce all others' wicked ways

How dare they spurn our perfect paradigm?   
Against our might they haven't got a hope!  
We'll tyrannize each dissident and mime  
Till they conform, and with our precepts cope

No grace, no quarter for the cursed unclean    
Who criticize our long-revered routine    
Such bold effrontery cannot be allowed!   
Our raging fervor will create a crowd  

To drown dissenters in cacophonous din    
And vanquish all who question from within    
But truth will only flower in open minds    
Where light, not heat, a growth of wisdom finds

So let us lift our lamp, and not our lash    
To seek the path that love and wisdom sketch

Exalted by the righteous, rapturous thrill    
Of vindicating our unwavering creed    
We vow to crush apostates with our will    
And smite down heretics for their misdeed

Our godly gospel must be spread by force    
Coercion justified to rout dissent    
Raise riotous ranks! Set forth the troops to quash    
All unbelief, till true faith is cement!

But bloodshed bred by blind devotion's bane    
Will drown dissent in never-ending pain    
For violence vines that round the heart's truth cling    
Bear only bitter fruit that Sorrow's wing

Will scatter in the wind as Wisdom's breath    
Blows gentle o'er Humanity's frail form    
And whispers: "Let compassion conquer death    
The peaceful path brings life beyond the storm"

So let us walk in harmony, not hatred    
The light of love dispels the clouds of discord

With violent visions veiling sense and heart    
We turn on unbelievers with brute force    
No empathy, no will to understand -    
Just rage and ruthlessness chart our course

Begone the heretics who dare defy!   
We'll root out all who spurn our sanctified  
And perfect precepts! No dissension brooked!    
Our truth alone in hearts must be mistook!   

With fists and fury we will lay them low    
The wicked ones who contradict our troth  
No mercy will to critics be bestowed    
Our godly gospel is the only growth

But truth's fair flowers demand an open mind    
Where varied views are free to intertwind    
And weave a wisdom, richly rendered round    
Not cut and dried, nor cleanly circumscribed

So let us lift the lamp of love on high    
To see, and not denounce, diversity

Zealotry's possession, reason's theft    
Has scarred humanity with wounds unhealed    
When dogmas, deaf to decency, are cleft    
Hard into hearts that fear has steeled

The frenzied flame of fundamental creed    
Would flay all minds that dare to disagree    
No qualms, no quarters given, no remorse    
Just righteous wrath to brutalize by force
 
Dissent tree withered, diversity destroyed    
Yet still small seeds of truth have endured, enjoyed    
Nourished by empathy's eternal springs    
Watered with hope - till gentle wisdom sings:

"Let go your grips upon the Guide above    
And grasp your brother's hand in human love    
Together seek the light, the path unfold    
Not cloaked in creed, but unconcealed, untold"

So softly flows the stream of loving-kindness    
To bear us bravely through life's fitful blindness

With guttural cries, our gory weapons gleam-    
Against the infidels, we'll be redeemed!    
No mercy for the vile, unholy hordes    
Who dare disdain our divine, mighty lords!

Annihilate the foes! They must comply!    
Or else be plagued, beguiled, then left to die!

Yet violence vines round virtue's tender shoots    
And strangles saplings ere they grow their fruits    
While hearts that open, minds that stimulate    
Will cultivate compassion, radiate

Wisdom's pure light - our human bonds renew    
And broaden understanding's worldview

So let us lift our eyes beyond blind creeds    
To see our kinship sown in selfless deeds

Belief's bludgeon, we will hold on high    
And quell those heretics who Won't comply    
The righteous path we'll punish them to take    
All who spurn our faith, remorseless, we'll forsake
 
No unbelievers shall our world view blight!    
Our godly gospel gleams with heaven's light!

Yet blind belief brings but a false repose    
As, cloaked in creed, confusion darker grows    
While hearts and minds kept open, unconstrained    
Will harvest truth's diversity, unchained

And unified, yet infinitely diverse    
One tapestry, though separate each thread    
Woven with empathy, compassion's force    
Our human bonds shine courage, loving spread

So let us forge a world where love entwines    
And understanding sprouts from fertile minds

Through vehemence and vice we vindicate    
Our singular, unerring creed of hate    
No sympathy for those we subjugate    
With righteous wrath we'll decimate their state!

No qualms, no quarters for the clans reviled    
Who contradict our cult - their views are guiled!    
Annihilate the cursed, unholy breed!    
They must revere our faith, or we will stampede

Their dens of disbelief with devastation!    
No rest, no refuge from our domination!

Yet truth emerges in the minds that mingle    
And cast off creeds of conflict, biases single    
So let us lift our weary hearts above    
The battlefield of dogmas, bound with love  

To find the peaceful path, lit luminous    
By lanterns of compassion, unanimity

With scary shouts, our swords raised overhead    
We vow to vanquish the misguided dead    
How dare their diseased minds our truth deny?   
Against our might they haven't got a chance!

Obliterate the lost ones! They must buy    
Our pure perception! Make the heretics dance  

To our true tune! No dissent will we allow!    
Our gospel's greatness they must all endow!

Yet crushing conflict cannot conquer hate    
Only sow sorrow, make compassion stagnate    
While empathy's enlivening, thoughtful streams    
Will cleanse the mucous misery that reams

Reality with rancor, ripe and rank    
So let us lift the lamp of love, not lanterns dank

With frightening fury, our falchions flay     
All who spurn our singular, sacred way    
How dare they stray from the righteous road?    
We'll tyrannize each unbeliever toad!

Annihilate the pagans! Let them learn    
Their putrid path from ours they must turn!

Yet force cannot compel the search for truth    
Only free minds can pierce the lies aloof    
So let us loose the bonds of harsh belief    
And tend the sprouts of understanding's sheaf  

To grow in gardens where diversity    
Is warmly welcomed, minds meander free

Our godly gospel shines the only light!    
All else is shrouded in sin's wretched night!  
With pious passion, pilgrim we proceed    
To crush the cursed ones who stray and mislead!

Obliterate the lost! They must comply!    
Embrace our ethos or be left to die!

Yet blind belief is but a barrier to truth    
That blinkers thought and severs heartfelt roots    
While opening our eyes and minds instead    
To grasp our common ground, that lies widespread    

Beneath the banners boasting outward difference    
Will unveil our inner, shared inheritance

So let us lift aloft illumination    
The lambent lantern of appreciation

With frightful fervor, fists raised overhead    
We vow to vanquish the misguided dead    
How dare their diseased minds our truth deny?    
Against our might they haven't got a chance!

Obliterate the lost ones! They must buy    
Our pure perception! Make the heretics dance!

Yet crushing conflict cannot conquer hate    
Only sow sorrow, make compassion stagnate    
While empathy's enlivening, thoughtful streams    
Will cleanse the mucous misery that reams

Reality with rancor, ripe and rank    
So let us lift the lamp of love, not lanterns dank  

And open hearts and minds to understand    
How similar we are, as hand touches hand    
Beyond the battleground of harsh belief    
Lie meadows where diversity's relief

And richness grows, when souls unite, not fight    
To weave with empathy a world of love and light

United, not divided, we shall thrive    
For in our kinship lies the will to build
A world where truth and tolerance revive    
And understanding banishes bias blind

Too long have creeds cut chasms amongst mankind    
Imposing enmity, discord designed    
Now let us lift our eyes, uncloud our hearts    
Illuminate a path compassion charts

That sees beyond the shields of stubborn pride    
To find, with empathy, our common side  

And celebrate the colors, creeds we each possess    
While strengthening the ties that bind and bless

Our human hearts, that yearn for unity    
To harvest understanding, sown from seeds of equity

So let us scatter the dark shroud of hatred rife    
And plant the seeds of tolerance and trust    
That they may grow, entwined, towards the light    
Of wisdom, love - our universal right

To live in peace and place our futures in    
The hands of hope, that we may all begin

To heal the wounds carved deeply over time    
And transition from the brutal to sublime

By binding up the breaks within mankind    
With empathy, communication intertwined

So shall we silence the vociferous demand    
To conquer those we fail to understand    
And cut the cords constricting point of view    
To pave a path where many truths shine through

And blaze a trail of transcendence, transforming life    
From discord and division's ceaseless strife    

To symphonies of souls, unique notes sound    
Entwining in one rich, empathic round.
























   The poem is part of a full version found in the book “Homo Sapiens” Part Part I - XVIII, written by Mawphniang Napoleon. This book is part of the popular “Homo Sapiens” book series, which can be purchased online at various online bookstores, such as Amazon. The book is available for purchase for those who are interested in reading the complete version of the poem. Remember to get all the books from the “Homo Sapiens” series, as well as other books by the same author.   So, don’t hesitate and get a copy today from one of the many online bookstores.   Khublei Shihajar Nguh,  (Dhanewad  )(Thank you )