Nothing Good Comes Easy – A Poem on Courage

From innocence to the coming of age
A picture perfect world dissipates
The more I learn
The more I hate
Yet the reality is
I can’t escape

I want to help, I want to bring change
But to everyone else, this seems strange

Why bother? Ignoring is more expedient.
All that matters is your personal convenience.

And everyday a new story is told
Of how the world’s become corrupted cold
That soon I too put on a blindfold

In the beginning I may have wept
But soon I started to accept
My heart grew numb just like the rest
Why take on extra stress?

No different from the perpetrators
Self-pleasure becomes the dictator

Will-power everywhere becomes powerless
Alas, the phenomena of cowardice

Still

To turn a cheek
Is just as bad

When commanded to speak,
How would I answer for that?

So instead I chose to keep my heart clean
Watch what’s around, but don’t start to agree
Put right over wrong and far above myself
Placing the greater good on the highest shelf

Yes, often, I do feel weak
And sometimes seem very small
But I also know that I’ve given my will
The greatest power of all

Because when all else promotes ignorance
Taking off the blindfold to watch and listen
Requires immense strength and courage.

Al-Quran:

“Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves. And when Allah intends for a people ill, there is no repelling it. And there is not for them besides Him any patron.”

Al-Quran, 13:11

Hadith:

On the authority of Abu Sa`eed al-Khudree (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say, “Whosoever of you sees an evil, let him change it with his hand; and if he is not able to do so, then [let him change it] with his tongue; and if he is not able to do so, then with his heart — and that is the weakest of faith.”

Muslim Hadith 34, 40 Hadith an-Nawawi

I chose this hadith because it shows how when we see an issue in the world, whether it’s injustice against people, animals, or against the earth, our duty is to stop it, even if it’s just with our hearts. The moment we start accepting the injustice as it is, our hearts become cold just as those who are the perpetrators of that injustice and we are no less to blame. To have courage is to stand up when it’s most difficult. Living in a time where people so easily dismiss how the earth is being destroyed because it’s inconvenient for them, to take interest in a cause like this is courageous because you’re working against the grain.

Author:
Nusayba Abdullah
The 2022 Courage Project Participant