Monday 25 September 2017

Poetry 2017 Featured Nilanjana Sanyal

Jesus! Help Me Forgive

The first scars of aging…
As the spades dug deep into the earth’s crust…
As the sun shone on our faces,
Suddenly the world seemed smaller…
The plane took off from Indira Gandhi International Airport.
Taking us out of desperation.
A storm was raging,
As the whip dug deep into my skin…
And the camel raced faster.
As the sun shone on our faces,
Suddenly the world seemed smaller…
The plane took off from King Khalid International Airport.
Taking us out of desperation.

Lo! We were in Beijing…
I could see the Tiananmen Square
I could hear the protests; they opened fire
I was too injured to visit the Great Wall…
As the sun shone on our faces,
Suddenly the world seemed smaller…
The plane took off from Beijing Capital International Airport.
Taking us out of desperation.
The winds of change were blowing,
As everything went out of control
As the polizei on horses watched
As the Berlin Wall fell…
As the sun shone on our faces,
Suddenly the world seemed smaller…
The plane took off from Schonefeld
Taking us out of desperation.
Le Marseillaise
And while the heads were rolling,
The music was playing,
As they stormed the Bastille
As the guillotine came down.
As the sun shone on our faces,
Suddenly the world seemed smaller…
The plane took off from Charles de Gaulle
Taking us out of desperation.
I turned around to see how the rich, exotic Sedans were shining,
I had forgotten the poor, enduring Sudans…
As they massacred my village,
I dug my spade deeper into the ground.
As the sun shone on our faces,
Suddenly the world seemed smaller…
The plane took off from Khartoum International Airport.
Taking us out of desperation.

Rwanda was anything but encouraging,
They killed my brother using a machete.
I cannot forget the horrors of the day.
As the sun shone on our faces,
Suddenly the world seemed smaller…
The plane took off from Kigali.
Taking us out of desperation.
The times-they-are-a-changin’
But I will never get to meet John F. Kennedy…
I will never be able to see the Statue of Liberty
The plane will never touch down…
The spades have gone deep into the ground…
I can hear my mother crying,
And my body gets reduced to ashes.
As the sun shines on my face,
Suddenly the world seems smaller…
The plane has taken off from Indira Gandhi International Airport.
Taking me finally out of desperation

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