If a room
in your house
caught fire
Could you just
sleep in some other room?
If a room
in your house
was filled with rotting corpses
Could you just
pray in some other room?
If yes
then I have nothing to say to you
A nation is created on paper
but it is not a map
where one section rips
the rest remaining whole
and rivers, mountains, cities, villages
still appear, each in their places
blissfully unaware
If this is something you don’t believe
then I want nothing to do with you
There’s nothing in this world greater
than human life
not God
nor knowledge
nor elections
Anything written on paper
can be ripped up and buried
within the seven layers of earth
Judgment that props itself up
on corpses
is blind
Government
that comes from the barrel of a gun
is run by murderers
If you don’t accept this
then I don’t have to put up with you
for even one second
Remember
the murder of a child
the death of a woman
a man’s body
ragged with bullets
belongs to no government whatsoever
it’s the downfall of an entire nation
When blood is shed like this
the earth does not soak it up
it blackens the flags
fluttering in the sky
If earth imprinted with
the marks of army boots
where bodies fall
does not turn to fire
and course through your veins
then understand this
you have become a wasteland
you haven’t even got the right
to breathe here
this world no longer exists for you
And finally
to be perfectly clear:
Never forgive
a murderer
whether he is your friend
a gate-keeper of religion
or a self-anointed
guardian of democracy
– Sarveshwar Dayal Saxena