There was no blood

[Sukla Sen]

There was no blood 

There was no blood.

They did not die. That’s not a wrist dismembered in the sand. 

Those bricks remained, they didn’t fall

That’s not a machete in his hand. 

The stones that cracked were harmed by time 

Not harmed by hammers, held in hands 

No one’s to blame! 

And anyway, who cares? the mosque was nothing except in name. 

Decades may pass, or more 

And grass will reclaim all this land 

Sand fill the eyes, the mouths, the jaws 

Lime melt the bones 

that smashed these doors. 

And still unjust, the violent past 

Will be remembered, not forgot

No lessons learnt, nor changes wrought

Simply more efficient killing 

More judges bought. 

There was no blood, but blood still flows

Girls and women torn to bits 

Old men’s bodies stuffed in drains 

The system denies the boys it kills 

Genocide by any other name.

Shakuntala Banaji