And Once Again Poem by Sadiqullah Khan

We had heard that blood and pieces
Of human flesh rain from skies, like hail,
We had heard that the sharp blade of cruel,
Slaughtered the combatants and burned
Sleeping towns. We had heard that once,
The shining earth turned upon the wicked.

We then saw that fountains of red blood,
Sprout upon skies, and flesh was the slippery
Earth. We then saw that beginning was a name,
Called death, and clouds burst open a wrath,
We saw the heavens sit silent, and tears
Flooded, shouts reached nowhere and thunders,
Fell upon the innocent -we saw that the sun was near,
And the morning breeze fresh, dew hewn,
We saw the dog-carts filled with corpses,
Heavier than stiffed lead, for they were no-age.

We saw that gloomy silence showered,
Guns went silent, the dance of blood had ended,
No one spoke anything, their heads bent,
They went homes, mothers said nothing,
They all wept to the walls, and the open doors,
And the deserted streets, and the void roads,
And the falling leaves, and the withered flowers,
And the waters, and the airs blowing,
And they wept inside dark rooms, and they
Screamed, and they washed, and they grieved,
And they buried, and the cemeteries were
Wide agape, and without coffins, and they sat
And they prayed for the departed souls,
And they wore white, shrouded in gray blankets,
And once again, the human resilience was put to test,
And once again…and once again!

-On the brutal killings of twenty one students and teachers of Bacha Khan University, Charsadda, Khyber-Pakhtunkwa, Pakistan, on January 20,2016.

Sadiqullah Khan
Islamabad
January 20,2016.