Sacrifice

A Poem

Photo by Nik Shuliahin on Unsplash

jaan is life

the sultanate
called you brave

nissar is sacrifice

when you offered
yourself to the bone

janissary

squandered an entire life
to wars that weren’t yours

did you wonder why
they named you this?

conflated coercion with loyalty

and

ended your story with nothing

not even yourself

janissary.