and now, me

For how long will you remember me?
Gone as I am already from the pages
Of your newspapers
And headlines on your television

You will remember me of course,
In fleeting glimpses
When another like me is molested,
Another girl child is drowned,
A mother’s foetus ripped because
She will birth her own kind,
a bride's cries stifled,
or set afire


You will remember
When my tormentors are brought to book,
When they are hanged
Or sentenced to life

When governments swear by their children
And their mothers
To never let this happen
Only to play witness again
And again
And again.

And then again,
You will eulogise me
When you light candles in my memory
Year after year


Alas!
You will also forget
In the mundaneness of your life
In the everyday struggles you must meet
In order to survive

You will forget
When you see beauty around you
Happiness, joy and innocence
And you will then
Foolishly believe
That life is still beautiful.
And that there is still hope.

You will forget
Because it is scary to remember.


How many more of us will it take
For you to not just remember
But never forget?



numerous verses on the internet on Nirbhaya. but for how long will we remember?