Haram II

one true nationality is mankind
—H.G. Wells

anytime i see the shadows
   of the night, i remember how
the blur of prejudice
        built a veil across
the foresight of justice.  
    how skins
with shades of tan
were bartered
for refuse and dunghills
i see that karma—
   the boomeranging cudgel
of fate & requital,
      has refused to be lord
over the white tongues
that stifled
     & still stifles
the idiosyncrasies
          of our virtue