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
1 comment:
May I get to translate this poem to finnish?
Seppo
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