Kashmir-Where barren land turn into unmarked graves
Zoya Khan
Annals of Kashmir
The Unspoken, the Unheard
Seven thousand buried in
the unmarked graves of the vale.
Militarisation and repression knocked your doors with bullet ridden bodies
dead and half dead .
The world slept , you awoke
Atta Muhammad, the land tiller
acclaimed and acknowledged
the nameless dead in the silent nights.
Annals of Kashmir
The Unspoken, the Unheard.
Barren lands turned into unmarked graves
Chitarnar or Chahal, Sopore or Pampore
Every slit and cut , bleeding wounds
Opened their red and purple lips.
Atta Muhammad, now the gravedigger
heard and buried
their painful adieu to cold world.
Annals of Kashmir
The Unspoken, the Unheard.
Bundles of broken and chopped dreams
left souvenirs, not all , but few with you.
Wailing fathers and lamenting mothers
recognised and recollected
their shattered hopes and sighed .
Atta Muhammad, holder of unspoken memoirs
lies in deep slumber forever and ever.
Annals of Kashmir
The Unspoken, the Unheard
You and me pass by the weeded unmarked graves
Srangor and Malkh’sh, Atta Muhammad
You shall live in tearful n longing eyes.
Seven thousand bleeding pages
maimed and throttled annals.
Annals of Kashmir
The Unspoken, the Unheard.