To Be Human

By Aditya Nandkumar Garde

You can’t make a human, a human,

unless you first make him believe

he is one.

He must remember softness,

before he can show mercy,

He must recognize pain,

before he can heal another.

Today, we walk upright,

but our hearts crawl in the dust,

We have names, not identities;

faces, not reflections.

We speak of love,

as if it were a lost art,

something traded long ago,

for comfort,

for control.

You can’t make a human feel,

if he believes feeling is weakness,

You can’t teach compassion,

to one who mistakes apathy for strength.

The mirror shows skin,

not soul,

And the crowd applauds,

every act that makes him,

a little less alive.

Perhaps the greatest tragedy,

is not that man forgot God,

but that he forgot,

what it meant,

to be human.

By Aditya Nandkumar Garde