Remember Me Not In Silence Poem by Aparna Eswaran

You plundered my soul, gagged me into silence,
You drew lines and asked me to stay within,
My skin was never fair enough, my eyes not big
My history was an exotic song
to be enjoyed,
but never to be believed.

I refused to drink from Your holy chalice,
I didn't believe in Your heaven,
I defied, I riled, my thoughts I spit.

I was striped and paraded naked,
spit on and pierced in.
I was raped, killed in front of my watching children,
shot, pointblank, left to die.
then you took my last breath
and twisted it into a lie.

Not before I let out a gasp,
for I knew you will be looking,
If you find it
don't bury it in marbled mausoleums,
or under garish cement statues,
Let it out in a loud cry,
Whip it, and fling it as a slap,
remember to remember me,
but not in silence