Carnage Poem by Shankaran Kutty

(Written after the bombing of school in Peshawar)

“Mommy, it is too cold outside
To school I don’t want to go
I cant play, so let me stay”
Her six year old cried

“Its my birthday”, she screamed in glee
“I am a big girl now you know
My birthday cake with candles eight
I want my friends to see”

“I cant wait, have a cricket match
I am the captain”, his eyes gleamed
'Dad, can you come to see me play
My batting you should watch”

“My exams are ending today
Vacation time is here
Don’t ask me to study, next 2 weeks
I will only play, play and play”

“Momma, I want that new dress pink
With little flowers on arms
With my satin cap with silky trails
I am a princess, my friends will think”

The tiny tot just had no clue
Where his mom was taking
But thrilled he was for he had worn
His favourite shirt with stripes blue

Each one was God’s chosen Angel
Who went to school that day
In hours all of them lay cruelly killed
Those killers will rot in hell

“I wish I had listened to her “
The disconsolate mother sobbed
“Why did I force her to go to school
Wearing a woollen sweater”

Her tiny hand clutched a piece of cake
The icing covered in blood
With chocolate filling and lots of love
That morning her mother did bake

On his right hand he still wore the glove
His left lay sawed off somewhere
His cricket cap was riddled with holes
The one, his dad had gifted with love

In a corner she sat holding her son
So tightly to her breast
Life couldn’t be more cruel to her
She had lost her only one

The pink dress was soaked in blood
He sat holding her in his arms
'My child, my princess, wake up now”
Copious, flowed the tears in a flood

The little tot lay as if in a sleep
His face still looked serene
His eyes fixed on her, as if to say
“Mommy, please don’t weep”

In that temple of knowledge, every room
Was filled with the stench of death
No ray of hope one could find
Amidst that pall of gloom

What cruel heart, what deprived mind
Could dream of acts so gory
Not amongst humans, even animals wild
Such sick souls would one find

What wealth or political gain
Over whom this shallow victory
By plunging the world into eternal grief
What greatness can the killers attain?

Shame on you, ye Taliban
You merciless messengers of death
As one will the world stand together
To foil your evil plan

Each and every child
Who fell to you today
Was the apple of a mother’s eye
A father’s eternal pride

Don’t feel that you have won
It is humanity that has lost
Love and peace one day
Will claim victory over the gun

We are with you, O Pakistan
There are no foes in grief
Crush those killers, we will stand by you
Every soul in Hindustan