My country’s on a genocide
a country where
they say god is a woman
the same woman is burned alive
where religion calls for the massacre
they set fire to the rain for stolen land
children are crucified in broad daylight
torchbearers of the news held into custody,
where children stand in front of a rifle’s mouth – protesting,
where their voices are silenced by
soldiers who were once protectors
where they snatch away pride for their joy ride
where leaders put their mouths in a padlock – shut
because they have everything to lose
but who doesn’t?
Words blue on paper
won’t express patriotism
for the nation
but my country
doesn’t feel like my
country anymore
my home doesn’t
feel like my home anymore
it feels like it is ‘theirs’
where prayers are unanswered
and god is two-legged
where violence is their spoon
and right in front of their eyes
the nation serves platters of abuse.
Shaheen Bagh’s just the revolutionary’s muse.
It must haunt you at night
because when you are sleeping
we are losing humanity
when the harmony
is completely torn apart
the motherland will sob
with the dripping blood
of her slaughtered children.
You think no one’s watching
as if we’re just puppets
with swallowed tongues and recycled hearts
but history is watching
all your jagged sins
and after all of this is over
when the bonds of patriarchy
are broken
set us free to
transcend higher
far away from this
human race.
Aditya Tiwari is an Indian poet, author and LGBT rights activist. His first collection of poems, April is Lush, was published independently in 2019. You can keep up with him @aprilislush on Instagram and Twitter.
Featured image credit: Cassi Josh/Unsplash
