I feel sorry
about that 19 year old
Who was supposed to be
Losing sleep over
Medicine vs engineering
Red suit vs the blue one
Manali vs Kasauli
But instead
Her butured body lies
Ashened
for some men had to
Show her her place
In this world
Which was no place at all.
I feel sorry
Because she must have
Tried to make a point
And so
Her tongue was ripped off
To give her a message
That she had no voice
She must stay quiet
And quietly must she pass on
I wonder
Even then
If she tried to take a stand
Not willing to back off
And fight for her dignity
For her spine was broken
By men who could not
Stand being stood up
By anyone but
A woman.
And though it was
Her tongue
That was pulled out
And her spine
Broken to shards
But it is the nation
That has lost its voice
And the ability
To stand up for a cause
Crystal clear as the daylight
Because you see
the people in the office are
Saying there was no rape at all!
And you must face
The pawns of the establishment
Guarding the mafia lord
Or else this time
your backs will be broken
By men in khaki
Who never had a spine at all.
I feel sorry
Because just right now
Must we talk about
Caste discrimination
Because the goons would have not done
What they did
Had she been a woman
of another household
Just as millions of women
Who walk freely at night.
The goons would have treated her
With high tea and
Crostinis
I feel sorry
Because she didn’t get the
Life she deserved
But also not the farewell,
The last rights
Because the
fascists must save
Face
Must take control
Must dictate
Must reshape
The past present and future
Because some of us
Made them believe
that
They can get away with anything
I am sorry
That her family will never get
Closure
Because the dark reality
Will never completely sink in
And the next ten years will be
Spent wondering
Did that really happen?
Did we even have a daughter?
Are we even sane?
How could a facade this large
Could altogether be forgotten?
I feel sorry
Because she wasn’t the first
and
She wouldn’t be the last.
Shivi Writes 