Saturday, 12 July 2014

Last Night I Dreamt Of Women Screaming

Last night I dreamt of women screaming
In a red-flame-lit darkness
Deep as the bowels of night
Where fires fed sparkling bright –

I dreamt of worlds crumbling
As ideologies collided
In a shower of blood and metal
And words out of books
Two  thousand years dead, perhaps, but - 

The women went on screaming.

Rockets arcing past the stars
Bombs coming down like rain
On the house and the field
The living and the slain.

And the women screamed
Clutching life-bundles to their
Nurturing breasts
Which gave forth blood and tears
As men in suits and uniform
Lectured on who was right and who was wrong

The women went on screaming.

Last night I dreamt of women screaming
While death flew above on gory wings.
And the children cried
As their mothers died.

And I saw the coins falling, falling
In a shower of gold, new coins on old
Blood-flecked in the blood-coloured night
As they fell, forever, out of sight
Still I could hear the coins falling.

Last night I heard the women screaming
And it was not
Merely dreaming.


Copyright B Purkayastha 2014





4 comments:

  1. I for one believe it will come to America as well; to much hate in the world; with no compassion, for anyone; any more; sappy; oh well;

    ReplyDelete
  2. Our hearts and thoughts, too, are with the Palestinian, Syrian and Iraqi people but your poem crystallized our feelings so perfectly. Thanks, Bill.

    ReplyDelete

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