She is a war survivor,
yet she doesn’t consider herself fortunate.
She saw her family-friends killed,
she escaped the gory fate.
She hasn’t forgotten the war days,
its colours, its sound, its fears…
bang, and her people met one death.
She had died many deaths,
she will die many deaths,
memories kill her and tear.
Survival for her is a crime,
a victimless crime.
She is the victim, she is the criminal
and her soul meets several deaths.
She is proudly called a surviving hero,
she considers herself a living dead.
© Kumar Gautam
Poems by Kumar Gautam 