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| Reflections on Gujarat |
Poems, painting by Rooma Mehra
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GUJARAT 2002
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The stench
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from burning flesh
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like smoke
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from the cremation
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of a
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smiling child.
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Blood
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from dripping
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knives
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carve wounds
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on the
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weeping roads
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of my country.
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At the end
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of this tunnel
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the Buddha
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smiles...
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But who will
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end
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the tunnel?
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Worms
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eating tunnels
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into gullible minds
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who will
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fill
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the tunnel
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with the smile of Buddha
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burnt
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in the cremation
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of a
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smiling child?
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AFTER THE WAR-1
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A sighing sun
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Scooped out
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A pen full of
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Morning mourning
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Spelling
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Stumbling sun steps.
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The final
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Fumbling failures
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Fading to
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Faltering falls
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Never to rise
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Before breaking
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Its rainbow nib
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On a screaming sky
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Black bloodpools
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Emanating from
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The weeping wound
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Running into
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Blurred eternities
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Burying
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In their inky folds
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An embarrassing error
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Forever.
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The day after
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Nothing...
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No day...no after
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.....
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nothing
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AFTER THE WAR-II
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So many stars
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Sleep
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An eternal slumber
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In the heavenly embrace
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Of a sleeping sky
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...unseen
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Unawakened...
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By a wisp
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Of a whistling wind
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...unfelt.
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Since the day
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A zillion eyes fused
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In a nuclear fission.
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Forgotten...
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But for the black hole
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In the heart
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Of the sleeping sky.
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A mute testimony
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Of days gone by
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Telling no one
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the story
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Of the earth
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That was
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Once upon a time.
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When stars shimmered
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And the sky smiled
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Because life saw...
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But it is of no consequence
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Really...
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That era ended
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A long time ago
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And who is listening
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Anyway...
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Sun Search
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The scratch
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of my nib
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scratching corners
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off a night
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on its eerie
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lonely journey
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dragging me along
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as one would
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an afterthought
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yet never
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enfolding me
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in its secure blanket
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I just manage
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to catch
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an elusive corner
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to scratch
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a letter
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a single shaky
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letter
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A lost "S"
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hoping to spell
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Sunrise
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as the night
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drags me along
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heavy
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in its
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invisible hands
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into an
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abysmal tunnel
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No light filters through
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my shaky "S"
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No sound
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Just the scuffle
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of nib and night
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while the world
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sleeps...
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A New Dawn
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When dreams are done
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and the night stretches on
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Murdered moments,
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minutes, hours
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but the night stretches on.
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Dragging feet trying to
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escape
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Nothing, tags along, heavy
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Memories erased, so long
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ago
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but, nothing, tags along,
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heavy
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Covered an inch, a foot, a
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step
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and dawn is miles away
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on the other side of the
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mountain
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Dawn is miles away
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Fall, lie back, conjure up a
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vision
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but memories have been
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erased
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When the end began its
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stumbling journey
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All memories were erased
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Get up, go, another step
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The night must be spent
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Dawn lies at the end of
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night
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The night must be spent
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Give up, surrender to the
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night within
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but sleep is blanked out past
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The day is miles, mountains
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away
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and sleep is blanked out
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past
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Draw an illusion with
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heartburn
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on the canvas of the night
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But ashes mingle with ashes
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on the canvas of the night
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Night falls heavy on lidless
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eyes
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Glowing embers from the
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fire within
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Look into a mirror to see two
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suns
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Glowing embers from the
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fire within
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And a dawn
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is born
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from the ashes
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of dreams.
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