The pebbles on the road to Hathras have turned crimson
Drinking in the never ending flow of blood
From the sinister fields, where
A girl was mercilessly dismembered.
The trees there have shed their leaves in shame and sorrow
And from the branches sprout tongues dripping blood.
The firewood under the cooking pots on home hearths
Emanate a stench of powdered bones
And some twigs could be, I tell you –
Her ribs from the bundle gathered from the field.
Her Ma listens to the anklets she can hear at dusk
The stifled sobs in the dark of the night
As she peers listlessly from her window
At the shadow of the pyre in the distance-
The smouldering embers leaping into flames
Like her daughter’s arms crying for mercy
Seeking justice
Will they light a raging fire?
Or be sprinkled down
And allowed to die ?
Rebecca Baby Ipe (Shanthy)
Academic Coordinator and teacher of English in XI and XII at Girideepam.
Also worked at Marbaselious as Principal and at various other schools.
