A Terrorists Last Lament Poem by Raghav Bal Mardhekar

I hung that one last moment
Low down that lethal rope
As the noose squeezed away
My last and fleeting hope

I wondered what had happened
Had Blind Justice lost its way
Could not that gentle Mercy
Stop the dawning of this day

Last night was never ending
Lying numb in darkened space
I heard my daughter's prayer
For the dawn to hide its face

They said that I was guilty
I know I was guilty too
Could they not see I tried
My wrongdoings to undo

I returned from where I'd fled
Back to the home I'd known
-that home that I had wounded-
For my actions to atone

They say that time is fleeting
One's life with dangers fraught
I cursed the steps I'd taken
That turned my life to naught

I told them what I knew
Of the actions that were taken
By others of faith and family
That left my spirit shaken.

Was I just one of them
Or was I of different mould
Could not they tell the difference
From all that I had told.

A father and a husband
Counting seconds of his life
Now asks for peace and honor
For his daughter and his wife.