A Promise To Sleep In Anbaar Poem by Subhash Misra

Umi, you tell me to sleep
this used to be my bed time
but this was when I had a bed
we were at home

your face serene
only as a mother's face can be

I try to sleep
but I have claws in my stomach
these days I am always hungry
and, sleep is not easy on emptiness

umi, where is Akhii?
we ate and slept together
he is left behind the fence
and Abii still fighting
our neighbours with different
prologues for prayers

one day we will be no fighting
on paper and on roads
there will be no detonations
no shelling
of houses abandoned
with children
with women
waiting for conversations to return

children
love colours
not to be wrapped in black
forever

umi, I promise to sleep
to sleep indefinitely
you will have one less to worry
one more
consigned to the memory
I wonder if children are remembered
differently