Mudlark Flash No. 98 (2015)
Manash Bhattacharjee
Dalits, photograph by Marcus Perkins
Your Turn, Children
Hearing of Dalit children burnt alive by caste Hindus in Haryana
We always put you to task
You untouchables
Sometimes, bored, tired
We come for your children
We come for soft flesh
We come with hard skins
Against skins crumbling
Without a shout or fury
We come with petrol in our brains
We, combustible machines
Born from hate’s factories
The moment we learn who we are
We know whom to kill
It is our ancient duty, ancient pride
We kill for old loyalties
To our ancestors, gods, scriptures
We need you to clear the dirt
You are the dirt we need to clear
The dirt in our heads
We need you to cleanse us
From dirty fears in our soul
We foul our own death
By the death we give you,
You do not have bodies like ours
Our bodies are caged hymns
Swords sheathed by pride
Our bodies are firewood
We burn you like paper
Your children burn like figs
We burn what pricks our eyes
We are born to gods
Who burn with a mere glance
If their pride is hurt —
We learn from them
We are an ancient civilisation
Being ancient absolves us
Of crimes we do in dark times
You are our dark times
Your freedom is our darkness
Your children going to school
Like our children
Spells doom for ancient laws
It’s your children’s turn
It’s your turn, children,
We need to burn your future
For the sake of our past
21 October 2015
Manash Bhattacharjee is a poet, writer, translator and political science scholar from JNU. His poems have appeared in The London Magazine, New Welsh Review, The Fortnightly Review, Elohi Gadugi Journal, The Postcolonialist, and First Proof: The Penguin Book of New Writing from India (Vol. 5), etc. His first collection of poems, Ghalib’s Tomb and Other Poems (2013), was published by The London Magazine. He is currently Adjunct Professor in the School of Culture and Creative Expressions at Ambedkar University, New Delhi.
BBC News, India, Indian protests after Dalit children burnt alive in caste attack, 21 October 2015