Claw to the wicked
Imagine your village is conquered by those who understand no language but violence. They have killed people and burned homes and buildings. Now, they rule the village with extreme oppression. Although everybody works hard to earn bread for their families, nobody has enough to eat, while the rulers live in comfort by taking over the possessions of others by force. Still nobody dares to defend themselves or criticize them. You are angry and want to shoot arrows into the hearts of the oppressive rulers with your words.
As the 20th century German poet Bertolt Brecht said, you want your words to be like a claw to the wicked and grace to the good.
The wicked fear your claw
The good enjoy your grace
Such
I would like to hear
of my verse.
What would you say to them?
Saif Farghani, a Persian poet in 13th and 14th century, said this:
Death shall visit your sphere one day
And your happy times shall be over too
Roaring lions left this land behind
And the barking of you dogs shall pass too
Your turn came after the ruling of nobles
And the turn of you nobodies shall be over too
The dust from knights' horses settled down eventually
And the dust from your mules' hoofs shall blow over too
He was defeated by the Monguls and had no weapon to defend himself anymore. But his words cut the hearts of the unjust sharper than any knife. At the same time, they plant seeds of hope into the hearts of the oppressed. Not just in his time and for his people, but for everyone and for all time.
Such poems make me think that years and centuries pass, but the basic principles in human life don't change much.