Haldwani \u2013 two poems<\/p>\n
By Rashme Sehgal<\/p>\n
——————————————————————<\/p>\n
The child is walking, walking through the snow,<\/p>\n
Up to the mountain,<\/p>\n
Soaked in blood,<\/p>\n
No, the mountain remains pure,<\/p>\n
It is the child who is soaked in blood,<\/p>\n
Blood dripping from his father\u2019s soiled kurta,<\/p>\n
Blood dripping from the pine trees,<\/p>\n
From the emasculated bodies of the men,<\/p>\n
Shot down, felled, one after another,<\/p>\n
Feet toppled backwards, returning from work,<\/p>\n
Or were they on the street to buy provisions,<\/p>\n
Or was it to buy some firewood<\/p>\n
To light a pyre,<\/p>\n
Blood dripping from the pine trees,<\/p>\n
There is not enough firewood<\/p>\n
To light funeral pyres of<\/p>\n
The so many dead,<\/p>\n
For the mountain stands bare,<\/p>\n
Bereft of hope,<\/p>\n
Dreams today are implemented by a firing squad.<\/p>\n
The child is walking,<\/p>\n
Walking up the mountain<\/p>\n
Dripping blood that leaves a trail in the snow,<\/p>\n
The father, bleeding, sobbing, follows him<\/p>\n
Like a somnabulist.<\/p>\n
**<\/p>\n
Time will end<\/p>\n
Some day,<\/p>\n
May that day come soon,<\/p>\n
To be poor and hungry,<\/p>\n
A destitute,<\/p>\n
Is to be alive<\/p>\n
To watch<\/p>\n
My son fade away,<\/p>\n
Gasp, taking deep breadths<\/p>\n
Before my eyes,<\/p>\n
He is taking a solo flight<\/p>\n
Skyward,<\/p>\n
Before my eyes,<\/p>\n
Or so Kabir said<\/p>\n
But did he also say,<\/p>\n
Dreams must end<\/p>\n
On the very day that<\/p>\n
Hope gets extinguished.<\/p>\n
For I must pick up my flailing arms<\/p>\n
My shivering body and move out<\/p>\n
From the graveyard to the stormy street<\/p>\n
To me met by the vacuous, hate-filled eyes<\/p>\n
Of the police.<\/p>\n
My son is taking a solo flight<\/p>\n
Before my eyes,<\/p>\n
Skyward.<\/p>\n
(Rashme Sehgal is a senior independent journalist, writer and a poet)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Haldwani \u2013 two poems By Rashme Sehgal —————————————————————— The child is walking, walking through the snow, Up to the mountain, Soaked in blood, No, the mountain remains pure, It is the child who is soaked in blood, Blood dripping from his father\u2019s soiled kurta, Blood dripping from the pine trees, From the emasculated bodies of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92,33,1284,91,56,59],"tags":[1870,1834,1869,102],"class_list":["post-4455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-international","category-international-political-national","category-national","category-politics","category-uttarakhand","tag-communal-violence","tag-haldwani-violence","tag-two-poems","tag-uttarakhand"],"yoast_head":"\n