Outrage Poem by Shankaran Kutty

(I wrote this poem after reading about a ten year old girl being gang raped and hung, somewhere in North India.)

Ten summers ago was I
Born in this world so wild
Though stoutly built, the world I thought
Still saw me as a child

With brooks and meadows and pasturing cows
So pretty was my village
An innocent little girl was I
Who hadn’t come of age

In the sleepy village by the sea
Friends I had so many
Of cruel dangers lurking around
Thoughts I never had any

A winter day when the majestic sun
Was on its downward arc to the sea
In the oval ground by the little hill
With my friends I played hockey pokey

I took a break for nature’s call
Behind the hill went to relieve
That my life would change from thereon
I had no reason to believe

I stood up and turned to face four men
Strangers, I have never before seen
Hello uncles”, I said with a smile
I never knew they were mean

I took a step to get to the ground
So eager I was to play
When the towering men stood in front
And so unkindly blocked my way

It was then that a little fear
Entered my innocent mind
I tried to run but in my scared legs
No energy I could find

A powerful hand clasped around
By smooth unblemished face
The leader I saw then strip himself
I watched the scene in a daze

A couple of hands pulled at my dress
And violently did it tear
I saw them with a sneer close in
Soon they were all very near

When they did I have no clue
But soon my clothes were gone
Before four strange cruel men
I stood like the day I was born

Someone pushed me on the floor
Of basalt rock and gneiss
And before I knew the leader was
On top of me in a trice

So near I could hear my friends
In despair I tried to scream
I still wanted to believe all this
Was just a bad winter dream

I didn’t know what they wanted
Bravely I tried to fight
But all strength had ebbed long back
All that was left was fright

A sudden pain then shot through me
I prayed this would soon end
I felt him fill me with his sin
As he lay on me, so spent

One by one the other three
Then took their turns with me
I was long past the state of pain
While they indulged in glee

It was dark, when they were done
For it had taken so long
I still didn’t know why they did it
But knew it was all so wrong

I lay there bleeding, on the hard rock
The stars were twinkling above
As if they too enjoyed the show
Are so cruel, the Gods above

My lips were cut, body bruised
But the one wound that wouldn’t heal
Was when my body they rampaged in glee
My most precious possession they did steal

I staggered up, and stumbled and fell
And again I did try
A living corpse, my emotions dead
I couldn’t even cry

At that moment my only prayer
Was that I shouldn’t survive
For what meaning did life hold for me
What reason to be alive

I propped up against the banyan tree
Saw its hanging vine
Then I knew my body they could take
But my death, to choose, was mine

As the dawn broke the very next day
To the banyan tree, did the village flock
For hanging from its long slender vine
A little girl, they watched in shock

For the joys of flesh, a little girl
How mercilessly did they crush
What punishment meted would suffice
For this mad adrenalin rush

What prompts men to such evil acts
That would put animals to shame
If they are also the creations of Lord
Which Gods are we to blame?