A CHILD SAID

 

A CHILD SAID

A child said

I am just a child

I still do not understand

The differences between political ideologies.

Today I am homeless.

My parents have been killed in the war.

I have also lost my playmates.

You are happy that you have killed

The people whom you considered wicked,

Whom you thought dangerous;

Whom you did not know,

But whom you were determined to kill.

They are dead, unwept, unremembered.

They are no longer there.

But I am here an orphan,

A child with no home, no school, no playground,

No toys, neither mother, nor father, no friend, no dreams.

I am sleepless. Theoretically alive practically dead.

 

I think and think but fail to understand

The so-called blessings of war, its victory

And the philosophy of celebrating that victory.

 

Don’t keep quiet at my questions.

If you have no answers, feel helpless,  and repent.

 

No beating of drums, only shedding of tears

For years to come.

 

                                                            *******

 

G.R.Kanwal

31^st May 2025