In memory of the 2,000 men, women and children killed in the state-led genocide in Gujarat in 2002 and the 2,00,000 who lost their homes and dignity.
The dead are never at rest, especially at night
Sometimes I hear him moving upstairs
bolting doors, moving furniture
against the doors to make a barricade
I cannot sleep
Other days there is a heavy silence
Orange silence with only a crackling sound
and an acrid smell
Suddenly he cries out aloud
Run Amina Run!
I tell him that the crowds have gone
years ago
I no longer hurt
and he is dead
but he keeps screaming
They are coming!
Run Amina Run!
Courtesy: Indianmuslims.in; http://indianmuslims.in/two-poems-on-gujarat-violence/
Archived from Communalism Combat, May 2009.Year 15, No.140 - Voices
The dead are never at rest, especially at night
Sometimes I hear him moving upstairs
bolting doors, moving furniture
against the doors to make a barricade
I cannot sleep
Other days there is a heavy silence
Orange silence with only a crackling sound
and an acrid smell
Suddenly he cries out aloud
Run Amina Run!
I tell him that the crowds have gone
years ago
I no longer hurt
and he is dead
but he keeps screaming
They are coming!
Run Amina Run!
Courtesy: Indianmuslims.in; http://indianmuslims.in/two-poems-on-gujarat-violence/
Archived from Communalism Combat, May 2009.Year 15, No.140 - Voices