by Sanna Mattoo
“Non lethal”, they say
They lie. A big lie
Believe me!
I’m the victim
Of so called non-lethal pellets
As it smashed into my body
I cried a wordless gasp
Since then…
there’s no enough life
to fill these long hours
Aches!
My pierced skin aches
These deep scars
writhe my body
day in, day out
Swollen,
and bruised eyes:
burden my face—
Like an trained intruder,
It (pellets) silently stole my sight
Everything turned devastatingly dark
Unfamiliar
yet painful…
I wept in pain
I wept in fear
World around me
doesn’t seem concerned
Soon,
snow flurries will start
to swirl in the night sky
For me,
it won’t be same
Nothing will be same
My pain beg me
to keep the hope alive
To silence my grief
I turn my attention to the garden
Garden of freedom
Where white petals
are drifted to the ground
Dappling the narrow path
I’ll forget the cruelty of the world
I lived, and you sense:
the resilience blazed in my blood.
Sanna Mattoo is a journalism student and freelance reporter based in Srinagar.
