"DEMONS " was written when the Persian Gulf War was raging in 1991. My daughter, Maryam, responded by writing "GAMES."

DEMONS

Wars
conjure up the demons
in us!
Why have you
invaded
my space,
you uncivilized beast?
My demon
indignantly cries.
You have no regard
for the law
(that guarantees my privileges!)
Lashing out
at you
with my red,
poisonous tongue
and spears of anger
to devour
all your humanity
with my boundless greed and vanity.
I have stumbled
long,
over half a century,
to reason with my demon
whose angelic disguise
has me fooled.
Will I know him?
Can I tame him?
Shall I murder him?
The evil within
always finds
an alluring tune
in my righteous voice of
moral pretensions
escaping
my grasp.

Majid Tehranian
Honolulu, Hawaii
Feb. 4, 1991