Namaaz Poem by Rupa Gogoi

('There is no shelter for us under this skies..', Abba says..)
..And this heart aches
As it witnesses
Tears on every face it sees..
Then it weeps, with equal fervour
It's not blood, but a salty river
Flowing in my veins..

Cries even the heaven
Nights seem never to end
Mornings are but bleak
And if a bird sings, she sings
A sad prayer, dripping with pain,
Beckoning the Allah of every religion,
To have mercy and listen-

Listen as the red evening sky
Is reflected on a soaked, red Earth
And the ringing temple bells echo
To the cries of a thousand women.

Listen, as darkness sets in
Bringing deathly stillness with it
Dark becomes every hut, quiet every beinAnd bullets tear unforgivingly
Through the night's bare chest

Listen!
As a thousand hearts are hushed with fear
And a thousand more are shushed to death..
Hear the stillness that follows,
And the heartbreaking cry that shoots through it..

She sings on, her voice drenched in pain: Will you be able to ignore the prayer even then?

There is no shelter for us under these skies...