Two poems inspired by Asifa’s death
Photo: Viralpopup
Asifa: Not your daughter
By Anonymous
I refuse to call Asifa
‘India’s daughter’
I refuse to pray
for her family
I refuse to scavenge for the words –
“no humanity left”
I refuse to believe
That what they did was inhuman
Oh no, it was very much,
Completely, wholly
Accurately human
I refuse the idea
That one has to transgress humanity
To kill Asifa
So do not fall for it
Everything happened well within
the realms of humanness
Well within and inside, of what they call,
The peak of human imagination
Its leashes trace back
To New Delhi, to BJP,
To Hindutva and its hate
So now, Asifa does not
And will not rest in peace
And never will a daughter
be India’s
***
A father’s worry
By Sumit Ray
It’s getting dark,
she should’ve been home by now.
Did she say anything to you?
She isn’t usually this late,
I hope she is safe.
You know, how bad it is out there.
How many times have I told her
not to roam alone,
to be back before
the sun sets in the horizon.
Is she lost somewhere?
But I don’t even hear her call.
She said she wants to draw,
so I got some colour pencils.
They’re hidden under her pillow
to surprise her.
Has she fallen asleep somewhere?
Why is she being so late?
I should go out and look for her.
So what if she is a child?
No one is safe in the wild.
Bio:
Sumit Ray teaches in the Department of English, University of North Bengal, Siliguri, West Bengal, India.
***
Like Cafe Dissensus on Facebook. Follow Cafe Dissensus on Twitter.
Cafe Dissensus Everyday is the blog of Cafe Dissensus magazine, based in New York City, USA. All materials on the site are protected under Creative Commons License.
***
Read the latest issue of Cafe Dissensus Magazine on ‘The importance of being a flaneur today’, edited by Maitreyee B Chowdhury, author, Bangalore India.
Cafe Dissensus Everyday 
2 Responses to “Two poems inspired by Asifa’s death”
Touched my heart.
These poems were soulful and touching.This case was heartbreaking but definitely not shocking because apparently such case have become daily news for us in India. It saddens me that a developing nation so wide cannot bring justice to its women. We have a long way to go when it come to women safety and respect. I love how you are trying to reach out to people with your writing like many other who share their concern and fear. There is a need to educate children but the conservative society that we are forbids us from even mentioning rapes to children and that is probably the reason why they are unable to tell apart right from wrong. The youth needs to be taught.
Recently even I wrote a poem on the Asifa Case portraying forward my disgust and anger towards the corrupt system and people who drag politics and religion into an issue like this. Its just not humane. Please do check it out once. The least we can do as individuals is try to make people understand by putting forward out thoughts.
https://themephobicwriter.blog/2018/04/16/oh-the-lies/