The Gunman
A gunman picks his Kalashnikov
Shoots a pen that stabbed him
Shoots a man who cursed him
Shoots a world that scourged him
The gunman screams his pain
Reloads, and shoots again
The gunman, draped in darkness
Cannot see the light
Cannot think or reason
Why is the gunman blind?
Behind him there’s a story
deliberately ignored
A convoluted history
A tale that’s seldom told
The gunman screams his pain
Tries to say he’s hurting?
Begging for compassion?
Confessing his sins?
… The manhunt begins
Every shot that’s fired
drains our humanity
Addicted to the news
we lose our sanity
The gunman leaves behind
a debt he cannot pay
Turning a blind eye
our debt
we deny
—
Ehab Lotayef
Montreal, January 7, 2015
Ehab Lotayef is a Canadian Electrical Engineer of Egyptian origin. He is also a accomplished poet, playwright and photographer with several works in print in both English and Arabic. Ehab is an experienced human rights activist and organizer, with many years of experience, both in Canada and Internationally. He has traveled to Iraq and Palestine multiple times on fact-finding and solidarity missions.
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