Oh Motherland!

By Ifra Khan

Peaceful lanes bearing witness

Bloodied drains recounting the true horrors

Broken remains of sincere dwellings

Chills down our spines at the narrations.

 

Oh Mother India! Are you seeing the injustice?

In your mud, forever the blood of innocents lie

Embedded in your soul

are cries of women pleading for help!

 

Never forget oh motherland,

You witnessed the killings of hundreds.

Drenched in fear, begging for mercy

a brutal death given in reply.

 

Oh India, will we see the sun again?

When tomorrow comes, will I still be breathing?

 

Vibrant lanes of unique cultures

Fragrance of our affectionate diversity

Why do they seem to be

a distant, heart-warming memory?

Longing of those beautiful moments

teary eyes and nostalgic smiles,

Should hope prevail over this bloodshed?

 

If the darkness takes decades to fade,

Washing away all our traces

Then promise me, oh Mother India

You will forever remember these times

The times your children were suffering

entangled in hatred and conspiracies.

 

And when your streets in compassion

are once again soaked,

When humanity defeats all evil,

Don’t forget to tell them

Of the loved ones families forever lost

Of the destruction inhumanity caused

Of the blind eye turned towards atrocities,

Of the enduring disappearance of empathy.

Ifra Khan is a commerce graduate currently pursuing Chartered Accountancy. Hailing from India, her work has been published on The Forever Muslim.