Narayan Bhattarai
The corpse floating red on
The strid of country river
Hunted to death by racists for
A weird crime: he loved someone,
Hissed at the great revolutionary war
From his burning pyre not too far in time
When the survivors of the bloodshed
Had proclaimed a great reawakening:
People got a renewed awareness
Of their rights and responsibilities.
Perhaps the raped girl laying twenty-four hours
In a floating river to let the vaginal
Swab be washed away saw before
Closing her eyes for eternal sleep
Justice being washed away.
She and many like her never know
Every swab is doomed to be worn away
For the rapist hasto be saved from the
Blame of defaming the reputation
Of the rule of law and order and
The spirit of great revolution can’t
Be blasphemed in the name of
Smattering incidents of evil doing.
[Narayan Bhandari is a Nepali poet based in San Francisco, USA]