THE DEMON IN GREEN

(Mukhtiar Mai-Gang Rape Victim)

She lies in a trance, not knowing if it's night or day..
Just yesterday,her life was full of laughter,
She returned from the fields with a song on her lips,
With the fragrance of the soil about her.
The sun had just spilt its orange hue all over,
The birds too returning to their nests, just as she
Secure, safe and at peace in her little home she wanted to be.
But, the lurking danger she could'nt forsee.
A demon in green,out to hunt, to destroy, to hurt,
He laid his claws on her.
Her bronze body quivering with fear..."you ought to protect,she said"
He laughed, the wretched creature, he plundered her,
left her tattered,her world now devoid of joys.
Her world now was BLACK, the colour of agony, of pain, of shame.
Father was wrong, she told herself.
When in fear, ask the uniformed Sahebs for help,he'd said.
They are always here, our land they protect
For us they camp here.
How was he to know..
That Green was not just the colour of the paddy just sown,
or the colour of their lush green forests,
But Green was also the colour of malice, of greed , of lust
And of the wretched man's uniform!