Unto our nights and all generations

by Ravi Panamanna
(Palakkad, Kerala, India)

Don't we remember this photo during Vietnam war when people are frantically running for shelter from Nepam bomb attack? This attack happened on 8th June 1972. As a youth, I remember having seen this picture on papers. This has gone deep into my heart and whenever I think of the curses of war, this tragic picture ever re-appears in my mind. What for are we fighting - to gain a world by denying a world for somebody? Can our countries remain as friends and better avoid the curses of war? The girl in the picture is Kim Fuk who is seen in the inset as a grown up lady. I am happy to see that she has received a life at the end. May god bless my sister for a prosperous life.

Breaking the silence of night
She supplicates unto our eternal dreams.
Knocking at our doors
She whispers unto our meads and ivory towers-

Of peace that was never won by war,
Of promised lands never regained by guns,
Of the gentle winds never born out of fire and smoke,
Of the conquest of the world thro’ the roaring missiles.

And there, in search of an oasis
She flees from a barking world.
As the naked truth of war
She scampers, lo! In her birthday suit!

A girl of eight,
All the way she is in a roaring pain.
In raised hands
She implores unto our endless nights.

Beyond her cradles and gentle winds
She is frantic for a fondling touch.
Knocking down all our vanity fairs
She is raining unto our hearts and all generations.