Saturday, February 25, 2012

TEN YEARS ON...! Poem by Fr. Cedric Prakash..25th February, 2012

 



TEN YEARS ON…!

-Fr. Cedric Prakash sj*

 

Ten years on…!

My unborn child

Still screams in pain

As cruel swords

Plunder her mortal remains….

 

Ten years on…!

My son, ten years then

Still haunts my day and night

As I search him relentlessly

In hope and in light….

 

Ten years on….!

I writhe in sheer agony

Me, they cut and chop

In a way most barbaric

Will they ever stop…?

 

Ten years on….!

I am no longer a child

But I still grovel in the earth

Looking for my aged mother

The one who gave me birth…

 

Ten years on….!

I wake up in gripping fear

My body is agitated

Remembering those hideous men

Who left me decapitated…

 

Ten years on….!

My quest for Truth and Justice

Will never die

These need to prevail

Only to nail the lie…

 

Ten years on….!

'Forgive and forget', they tell me

'Forgive', I can, if there is remorse

'Forget' never, never! I say

And I continue to run the course…

25th February, 2012

 

(This poem is written remembering the tenth anniversary of the Gujarat Carnage which began February-end 2002, leaving thousands - mainly Muslims - dead and many more homeless.)

 

(*Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ is the Director of PRASHANT, the Ahmedabad based Jesuit Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace.)


Address: PRASHANT, Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052

Phone: 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax:  79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com     www.humanrightsindia.in


No comments: