A Shredded Flower

She was all of eight years,

Like a rippling brook

A tiny blossom

Shining in a purple salwar kameez.

He looked at her and promised to marry her one day,

He would have to wait for a few more years after all he was just fourteen.

She skipped along her way singing to herself.

Like every day she took the forest route

To collect firewood for her mother’s hearth.

              

They were all waiting for her eight of them,

The room where they confined her was soon stained with blood.

Each taking their turns with her

She cried for mercy but they wouldn’t let go.

They gouged out her insides.

Repeatedly ravaging her till she breathed her last thankfully.

They threw the mutilated body in the forest.

God shut his eyes in shame

To see the monstrous beasts he had himself created

In the form of human beings.                              

Reviews

[Christopher Ryley]

This did not go where I thought it would. Amazing piece

[Sharmila Roy Ghosal]

Thank you so much.