Lament for a Traditionalist

Today we speak of assassination,
A tragedy, such a sad occasion.
A well-known traditionalist, we mourn,
Who cared for family values well worn
Like clothing handed down from our parents
And then passed along to adolescents.
This traditionalist connected well
With young people trying to break the spell
Of those who would tear down the old structure
While hating their country and their culture.

Not everyone lamented this sad loss
Or even cared just how they came across
To the many who loved this spokesperson.
Their comments caused the discourse to worsen
With ad hominem attacks, regardless
Of how such statements made them look heartless.
“You reap what you sow,” declared one comment
On social media meant to foment
Anxiety, anger, mental dis-ease,
So that haters can do just as they please.

Sana Yousuf spoke for her Chitral land.
In widely-spread Tik-Toks, she took a stand
For a small group of big-hearted humans
Who admire their own institutions
And that special place in the whole wide world
Where they can stay with their own flag unfurled
In the Hindukush Mountains, amazing,
A seventeen-year-old girl stood gazing
Like Zarathustra filled with prediction
Then suddenly killed for her conviction.

Marco Katz Montiel composes poetry and prose in Spanish, English, and musical notes. He went to college late, and then alienated one university by publishing about bigotry on campus and got kicked to the curb by two others for his union activities. Still, Marco managed to graduate and even publish a book on music and literature with Palgrave. His essays, poems, and stories appear in Ploughshares, Jerry Jazz Music, English Studies in Latin America, Copihue Poetry, Camino Real, WestWard Quarterly, Lowestoft Chronicle, Dissident Voice, and in the anthologies Cartas de desamor y otras adicciones, There’s No Place, and the Capital City Press Anthology. Read other articles by Marco Katz, or visit Marco Katz's website.