P. A. Chacko
The silence of the Tomb!
That tomb in Palestine,
Its silence that speaks volumes,
The silence that bursts into a thousand questions!
Why was the innocent condemned?
Why are innocent people en masse buried?
Why are people suppressed into silence?
The silence of the tombs in Palestine, Sudan, Ethiopia Nigeria, Myanmar, Manipur and elsewhere…
Innicents burnt alive, bayoneted, gassed, shot dead to satiate the cruelty of rulers and ruling gangsters!
We are silent!
Our silence speaks volumes too, Of our complacency,
Of our complicity,
Of our unaffectedness,
Of our sanctuaries confined to silence!
The silence of the downtrodden,
Of the displaced,
Of the disadvantaged,
Of the electorate fed with a pie in the sky!
Of the poor victims of man-made poverty.
Their silence bought with a kilo of rice under welfare scheme!
The silence that stares us in the face
With a thousand questions about our silence
About the silence of those who can speak!
Finally, when they came for me, there was no one to speak.
There the silence takes its toll!
