Khmer Rouge: Prison S-21 Poem by Hannatu Pqrs

About 17 thousand of us were taken
Only seven of us survived
The torture

I was only a local mechanic
But I was asked about my connections with the CIA
And the KGB

Of course I didn't know these
I panicked
I told them anything I could think of

All the while in prison
I thought of the pregnant wife
I left behind

But then, the torture kept me company
With electricity drilled through my ears;
Sensation like fire exploding in my eyes

My toenails viciously torn out
A round of beating for 12 days straight!
The Khmer Rouge are not human!

Then one day
Inmates of another prison arrived
Among them, my wife, and the son I never knew

The killing was to begin, then
Run! Run! Run! : we made a run for it
But my wife and son never made it

Now the killers are being tried
It is said that they have mattresses, TVs,
And even access to health care facilities in jail

In prison (cries)I didn't even have trousers to put on
But the big people will always live better lives than we do
Even in prison

They say that we'll get justice
We will never get justice!
I never trust the system

Where is my family now, my wife and son?
The dead don't sleep easy in Cambodia
Nor, still, do the living