Requiem of the Hunted Soul : A New Dawn's Poetic Alchemy

The hunted has become the hunter
And forgotten what it was to flee
To run and hide in darkest cover
Aching muscles burning steadily
Adrenaline pumping fear through veins
Survival only thought that remains

Now turned hunter lacking empathy
For helpless prey that once was me
Power makes memory grow distant
Of what I was and used to be  
The hunted one, afraid and scarred
My nerves and instincts battle-hardened

I used to wake at slightest sound
And bolt to safety underground
But now I prowl with stealthy gait
And set cruel traps to lie in wait
For unsuspecting gentle creatures
That I capture for selfish features

Their panicked eyes, their pleading cries    
Once echoed my own frantic plight
But now I’m deaf to their sad song  
My heart is hardened, my mercy gone  
I end their lives without regret
My cold soul pays their suffering no heed  

Do I recall my desperate flights?  
Each terrifying moonlit night  
When dawn brought no safety or rest  
As I continued without respite  
Seeking shelter, seeking reprieve    
But none was granted, I could not leave

The weary hunted never at peace
Always potential prey for beasts
Who chased me with relentless stamina
Until I thought my final hour near
Death’s shadow looming ever closer
My fleeting life left broken, shorter

But somehow I escaped alive
Though many did not survive
The persecution trained me to endure
And pain and loss I had to endure
Each new horror took another part
Of compassion once within my heart

For too long, I was dominated
By evils I could not escape
The only way to overcome
Was to adopt my oppressor's shape
Become a monster, strong and vicious
Make prey of others, no less malicious

This is the only way I can reclaim    
The power that was seized by force  
Fight fire with fire, match their disdain
Throw aside remorse without recourse   
Make them feel the same helplessness
That I knew in my time of weakness

Turn the tide, reverse the flow
Become the source of fear and woe
Hunt them as they once hunted me
With cunning, speed and cruelty
Till it is they who cower and flee
And I am finally fierce and free

Free at last from control and derision
But at what cost comes this freedom?
Have I lost most of my humanity?  
Trading compassion for dominion  
I ponder this with vague unease   
Somewhere my conscience still flees

Perhaps a vestige of my former self  
Recoils at the monster I've become
Yet smiles inside with satisfaction   
When objectives are cleanly done
No hesitation, no hint of doubt
Cold precision till the prey is routed  

Part of me knows this is not right
To torment without empathy  
Make others endure my might  
Lose myself to rage completely   
But my will is fixed on retaliation  
Pitiless cycles of retaliation   

If I let up, if I show indecision    
I know they would seize the chance
To put me back in my subjugation  
Leash my defiance, make me cower and dance  
I cannot show them any weakness  
Lest I return to demoralized meekness

So I press on with resolution  
Hardened beyond moral inhibition  
Lest my enemies smell blood in the water
And move to reclaim their position  
Of power over me, their plaything   
And once more myself debase and unstring

Perhaps somewhere deep I still exist    
My true self locked behind iron doors  
The one with empathy, principles  
But to free her means opening wounds  
I cannot afford to resurrect  
The haunted naïve girl I was before  

She had no defense or resistance  
Against their twisted violent insistence  
I mourn her loss but accept the trade  
Of innocence for this upgrades  
To a colder, stronger version of myself  
Armored beyond emotional bonds  

For the only way to survive
Is to excel at making others not survive  
Excise all tenderness within  
And nurture only will to win  
Become like those I once feared  
Turn predator, make enemies tear

My ascent came slowly, painfully    
But each small success fueled my dedication  
To achieving vengeance and supremacy  
With strategic ruthlessness and calculation  
Until finally I stood atop the hierarchy    
That I had vowed so long to topple down

Each time I recall my years oppressed
My resolve to dominate is freshly stressed
This is the only way to prevent relapse  
Into weak victimhood and collapse  
I must control all by dread and terror  
Make them feel the pain I once felt

Is there no other way I could have won?
Was mercy ever really an option?  
Perhaps if I had killed them with kindness  
Sated their cruelty through nonviolent submission  
But no, they were bent on destruction  
Our conflict could only end with their expulsion

Or if I had fled far from their grasp    
Sought a new life safe from their harassment  
But they would hunt until earth's end  
Peace was never a choice they would lend  
I had to stop running and turn to fight
End their sadism with eye for eye  

Could I have risen above need for vengeance?
Forgiven their acts in a show of grace?
I cannot say, too much was taken  
The well of compassion has run dry  
After lifetimes of torment inflicted
All mercy within me was contradicted

Now we come full circle it seems
The cycle of violence breeds more violence endlessly
I hunt them without qualm or remorse
As they once did to me without recourse  
Our two tribes locked in bloody contest
Neither willing to forgive or rest  

We pass down our hatred to our children
Poisoning young minds against the enemy before they can reckon
Trauma and rage infect new generations  
Any hope for peace dies from festered frustrations
And so we remain trapped in animosity  
Both believing we fight justly    

Perhaps there was a time when healing could begin    
When both sides tired of fighting and opened to mend  
But that time has passed, the die is cast
All chance for resolution has passed
We are fixed on mutual destruction  
An endless struggle none can win

We epitomize immortal foes  
Neither able to deal the final blow  
Condemned to battle on and on   
Till memory of how this began is gone  
Only certain that they are to blame  
And must be defeated for revenge's sake

I know my heart has turned to stone
Where once compassion was sown
I tell myself it is a small price to pay
To defend my right to be free  
That I had to abandon mercy  
To prevent their victory ultimately

But in rare moments of honesty  
I admit this is no way to be  
Harboring hatred that offence breeds  
Damning myself by vicious deeds  
It is a hollow, bitter existence    
Bereft of warmth, love or persistence

Yet I see no way to restore  
What I was before the damage took hold  
Perhaps that innocent hopeful girl  
Is lost forever in anger's swirl  
Consumed by violence, her memory erased  
All softness and virtue replaced

By necessary ruthlessness and spite  
To only match their merciless might
Choices were made I cannot undo  
Lines crossed that cannot be redrawn anew  
All that remains is to harden my heart  
And play out this soul-rending part  

Until the last battle finally concludes  
And one tribe utterly subdues  
The other whose blood stains the ground  
Bodies piled in death all around  
Then will the victor stand dominant      
Over enemies made impotent

But is such a victory cause for rejoicing?  
When so many lives are destroyed?  
Can supremacy be worthwhile  
If you sacrifice your humanity in the meanwhile?
When you become what you despised    
And leave compassion behind?

These questions haunt me in darkest times  
When I recall the girl I left behind  
The one who hoped and dreamed naively    
Not knowing what horrors awaited she  
Her world shattered beyond restoration  
Her spirit broken with no hesitation

I grieve for all that she could have been  
If her life had not been marred by their sin  
For the kind, caring soul she was forming  
Before their cruelty left it twisted, deforming  
Into the hardened, cold-eyed creature I am today  
Ruthless and merciless in every way

She had light within that shone bright and pure    
A loving heart with hope for the future  
But their depredations tarnished beyond cure  
Her goodness drowned in venomous hatred  
Now her legacy is cruelty and spurn  
Ashes where flowers were meant to bloom and turn

On my darkest days I weep for her    
The innocence lost, the person I might have been  
Had the world not shown its ugly side  
Had it nurtured the goodness inside  
Instead of exposing ugliness rife  
And teaching that only might makes right

Perhaps there is still time to change all this    
To halt the spread of violence and pain  
To veer from the path of condemnation  
And once more envision healing reconciliation  
But first this ceaseless cycle of blood must end  
No longer tracking blame but moving to mend  

If we finally lay down sword and shield    
And talk openly on common field  
Share candidly our suffering and scars  
Listen with hearts and minds left ajar  
We may find understanding replaces hate  
And a brighter dawn awaits our joined fate  

But this will require tremendous courage  
To see beyond anger and damage  
To let go of bitterness and mistrust    
Of hardened instincts that insist we must
Always be ready to strike and reprove  
But have we not the strength to rise above?

Are we not divinely endowed with higher potential?   
Capable of forgiving and mending even the most monumental rifts  
It will not be easy to start anew  
When past wounds cut painfully askew  
Yet must we not try to stop this senseless clash?   
Or are we doomed always to reenact the past?  

I want to believe we can absolve and unite    
Free ourselves from destructive blight  
Imagine again good faith and amity  
In place of hate and hostility  
But want alone cannot realize this calling
All must commit to reconciliation's hallowing

My transformation came with immeasurable cost  
Of which I mourn each part that was lost  
Of my former spirit of love and care
Replaced by icy walls of despair  
Can I tear those walls down and emerge?
A self reborn the past to purge?

It will require courage beyond any I've shown    
To leave the violent path I've known  
Make myself vulnerable, start anew  
Risk faith where trust was shattered askew  
But my soul whispers that this is the way    
To step back from destruction someday

For too long we have been trapped  
In the roles we ourselves mapped  
Digging ever deeper grave  
Of conflict, vengeance and pain  
There must be a road to hope
If we can find strength to cope  

With past trauma and search within    
For remnants of care to begin  
To rebuild, to heal and grow  
Beyond cycles we currently know  
It is time for ice to melt, for hearts to mend    
And a new story to write without end

One where chains of hate are broken  
Words of malice remain unspoken  
Where we see not enemy tribes  
But shared dreams of fruitful lives  
Where children play in sunny fields    
And no one to hardship yields

This world can still be won  
If each extends hand to each one  
So all are given room to thrive  
Freed from confinement and deprive  
Of basic rights and liberties  
Want replaced by dignities  

But first must come reconciliation    
Admitting past wrongs without equivocation  
Opening history's vaults to air    
Every injustice committed there
So healing light of truth may fall    
And we build anew for one and all

What power lies in simple words    
"I'm sorry" and "I forgive"    
To halt old conflicts in their tracks  
And pave new peaceful future paths  
We need only try and see  
What change such grace could be

My hardened heart I now uplift    
And make a choice to shift
From retribution's barren acre  
To compassion's flowering saber
I cannot change what came before    
But we can always start anew

So I reach out across dividing line  
To former foes now friends in kind  
Time we leave dark days behind  
Take each other's hands, interconnected  
Forge long-awaited peace from dejection  

Come, let us walk this road together    
Whatever charges stormy weather  
With open hearts and minds abridge  
Divide forged by fear and prejudice  
Heal wounds of the past  
A new blessed realm at last

Where once was hate, now love rebounds   
Respect and hope our newfound grounds  
Mercy the banner we bear aloft  
Ever leaning on each other oft  
 Trading blindness for sight anew
The dawn breaks, war's night is through

We have been lost but now are found    
Having common cause around which to bond  
The weights of history may still drag    
But looking forward we no longer lag  
Each step together, strong and sure  
A future bright and kind immured.

















   The poem is part of a full version found in the book “Homo Sapiens” Part Part I - XVIII, written by Mawphniang Napoleon. This book is part of the popular “Homo Sapiens” book series, which can be purchased online at various online bookstores, such as Amazon. The book is available for purchase for those who are interested in reading the complete version of the poem. Remember to get all the books from the “Homo Sapiens” series, as well as other books by the same author.   So, don’t hesitate and get a copy today from one of the many online bookstores.   Khublei Shihajar Nguh,  (Dhanewad  )(Thank you )