Listen, those of you
who call yourself the “taliban”
and spill the blood
of innocent children in Pakistan

I vow to never lose my way or despair,
become hateful or violent like you
I vow to never speak, to think like you
I vow to never do what you do

the whole world is my home
every creature is my family
I will not be divided
from the rest of humanity
I will not despise, distrust
those who look, who speak
who live, who believe
different from me

I am a lover of God
so I am neither Christian nor Jew
I am neither Buddhist nor Sikh
neither Muslim nor Hindu

I am neither left nor right
neither Shia nor Sunni
I am neither better nor superior
in creed or color, to anybody

in answer to your madness
I practice compassion and sanity
in answer to your violence
I remain…