where will you run if you stay indoors?
Who was there beside you, when
you slipped out
from your mother's wounded womb?
Who will be there for you
beside you, on the smoking pyre?
When you were given a voice, you
were given a task, your duty
on the line of fire.
you were given no rights
to shirk and run, dig a trench.
You were given a gun
Not to defend or offend, but
to release the bullets to find their own mark.
What is a snigger, but a silly sound.
What is a smirk, but a paltry picture.
Are these the ants and flies
that are making you cry?
The Nazis could not crush
the voice of a thirteen year old child.
I could have
Lived alone, instead I
Chose to live among people
Opening my doors wide
So they could see me
Without my shell.
Now they crawl all
Over my garden
My tenderly tended garden
They eat my fruits
They break my flowers
They put up shades
And shut out the sun.
They stamp upon
My dew-pearled lawn
They catch and cage
My birds who once
Roamed free and sang for me.
They laugh when I
Protest and they tell me I
Could never have grown
A garden all by myself!