You May Not Come Back Inside.

7 Jun 2010

The following was posted as a comment on Chapati Mystery in response to much needed laments about the recent attacks on the Ahmedi minority in Lahore. I was so moved I couldn’t resist posting it here. It’s a poem by a 13 year old, Kamini Masood on how she feels after the attacks.

Wajahat Masood writes: In May 28 attacks, I lost some of my close friends, including the head of Lahore Ahamdiyya Jamaat, Justice (R) Munir Sheikh. He happened to be the elder brother of my life long friend, Jamil Omer, as well. So many families that I have known were personally bereaved. The Model Town attack was just 200 yard from my house…. My 13 year old daughter, Kamini Masood, wrote a poem the day Jinnah Hospital (two days after Mosque attacks) was attacked and I quote:

Today my hope and pride have vanished,
That’s not to be denied
Today I sunk to the floor sobbing
With my arms open wide

The power does not lie with you,
to discuss or decide
who is worthy to be alive, and who
must be made to die

Do not go out to play children,
you may not come back inside

If tear-streaked faces of broken families
begged you to stop killing their sons,
would you reflect and see your wrongs,
or would you still load your guns?

For every girl who lost a father,
every wife now a widow,
I hope you see that you have spilled,
the blood splattered on my window

You do not hear the mourning mothers,
you do not see your father cry
then it is our sons and daughters,
Not your brothers and sisters that die

Do not go out to play children
you may not come back inside