a child of war

a child of war.

as she lies bleeding,
the girl who skipped, hopped to school,
all of nine and a half years old,
with ribbons in her hair and a laugh that was her parent’s pride.

as she lies bleeding,
shrapnel lodged in her torn stomach,
she stares at her skipping rope,
as her blood soaks it the colour of cherries her mummy buys.

as she lies bleeding,
she sees people all around thick black smoke,
blurred visions of scattering feet, shoes left behind,
hearing nothing but the pinging in her smashed eardrums.

as she lies bleeding,
she slips away and then she is dead,
a mangled heap of a nine and a half year old girl,
whose laugh was her mother’s pride.

as she lies bleeding,
for even in death she bleeds some more,
shrapnel wedged in her torn stomach,
stealing the light from her bright little eyes.

as she lies bleeding …

in jallianwala bagh in ‘19,
leningrad in ‘42,
freetown in ‘98,
soweto in ‘76,
jenin in ‘02,
hanoi in ‘68,
beirut in ‘85,

raqqa now,
basra still,
gaza too.

as she lies bleeding,
a little nine and a half year old girl,
whose laugh was her parent’s pride,
we know she’ll bleed more,

tomorrow and in many tomorrows yet unborn,

with shrapnel in her stomach,
ripped open and torn.

as she lies bleeding.

N O T
          I N
                M Y
                       N A M E …

the tears of olives

the tears of olives  …

trickling down shrapnelled flesh

tears fall

like
blood
on
bloodied
cheek

while in the sun

lifeless bodies
lie cold as stone

still
the tears of olives
flow

salty sentinels
of memory:

pain
suffering
occupation
hunger

the tears of olives
perennially streak

etching pathways of dust

between alleyways of desolation

hopelessly bleak

yet still
the slaughter continues

as more dead bodies

rot
reek

Empire

empire …

crackling embers of empire,

spew noxious toxicity,

lashing,
weatherbeaten faces,

scratching,
gnawing,
crunching marrow,

burrowing deep,

slaying,
praying,
selling,

wearing down,
laboriously,

chilling the furnace of principle,

doused by carbonated fizz,

rendering consciences inured,

consciousness cremated,

ash rising,

ascending,
exalted,

amidst hazy,
blurred,
just out-of-focus,

silhouettes of humanness,

shred,
minced,
chewed,

spat out,
cast aside,

stripped off the moulting skin of greed,

left out to bleed,

as vultures skulk,
& currencies’ sulk,

– markets open,

– the horde pounces,

scalping,
remnants of dignity,

as sweat pours off backs,
& as innocence roasts in shacks,

as the cacophony grows ever more shrill,

buy!

buy!

checking-in all humanity,
left to suffocate,

in a cashiers till,

as we writhe,
entwined,

savaged & ravaged,

by the diktat of Profit,

while,

innocence starves,
emaciated,
discarded,

flung into the cesspool of want,

trampled upon,
barbecued on Capitals spit,

while hollowed souls,
wracked by inert life,

seek respite,
from want,

hunger,

from ceaselesss,
merciless strife