BEING RESHMA #VICTIM to #WARRIOR
Puja Bhakoo Uncategorized May 26, 2019, 3 Minutes
Sharing my poem on Reshma, the young acid attack victim who went on to blaze global ramp walks as a fashion model.
BEING RESHMA #VICTIM to #WARRIOR
The silver morning
SPARKLED bright
A BLUSH of
sunshine
KISSED me awake
In my heart
A happy song
FROLICKED like
a virgin snow-flake
Infused with
the restless euphoria
of youth
Clutching my DREAMS
in the palm
of my HAND
I stepped out
WITHOUT a worldly care
to WIN and claim
my waiting
dreamland
OBLIVIOUS
That ominous
writing
on the wall
OBLIVIOUS
This day
would be the
START of it ALL
OBLIVIOUS
That somewhere
not very far
Stealthily
Was creeping up
That
FATEFUL hour
Round
the corner
They WAITED for me
as pearly skies
TURNED
ashen brown
BATHED in vendetta
DRUNK on deceit
Six treacherous hands
QUELLED me down
STREAMS of bubbling acid
with relish they DECANTED
SCALDING my skin
every innocent SPECK
BLINDING screams
clotted my mouth
Funnels of FIRE
slid down my neck
Engulfed
by the STENCH
of my own
BURNING skin
My heartbeats
my sanity
screeched
to a STOP
A blazing lava
of MOLTEN flesh
dripped down my cheekbones
DROP
by DROP
ARID like a grave
Sinister and STICKY
BONES peeped out
through melted skin
Invoking
the heavens
I prayed for
DEATH
my sense
of EXISTENCE
wearing thin
A GROTESQUE
hole swallowed
One sultry KOHLED eye
But imagination
transcended
that excruciating pain
My soul, a CRAWLING foetus,
searched distraught
The SAFETY of my mother’s womb again
Wanton I lay
on a carpet of blisters
My RUSTED rainbow
shredded to
REAMS
My world
AMPUTATED
to a
half-finished
sentence
My pride, my soul
singed
at the SEAMS
As my
UNDEAD corpse
slithered on
the road
My wounds
SMOULDERED
like the
sun enraged
I fantasised
flying
FLESH-FREE
my skin
UNZIPPED from
this cartilage cage
Will the paralysed crowds
just stand and
GUZZLE
the cacophony
of my muffled screams?
DROWNING
in the dungeon
of no man’s land
Will this be
the GRAVE of
all my dreams?
Rainbows shuddered
to WATCH me
morph
From a carefree girl
to a
FRIGHTFUL Witch
Rancid turned
the nectars
of flowers
In a blink of an eye
An identity switch
A vast emptiness
descended
my heart
Vanity WHISPERED
aloud in vain
Waves of regret
rippled
like a river
Will I never EVER
be beautiful
again?
The
platinum day
SANK into
a hideous night
CURSING
karma’s twist
I saw Shivering
Willows WEEP
Wrapped in
CURDLED anger
they cried
If life is
so precious
WHY is acid
so CHEAP?
As the ruthless mirror cringed at
my gory sight
An inner Voice
ASCENDED my soul
Pounding
my pride’s panels
it asked
were you born
JUST to be Vessel
to a losers’ VITRIOL?
The inner voice
ENAMELLED my
scars with courage
The universe put
its Might
BENEATH my sails
Human angels united to SUTURE my fragments
Reconstruct broken faith
Be what it entails
DETERMINED
my scars
would NOT be in vain
I ROSE from
the ashes
To be whole again
INVINCIBLE
UNSTOPPABLE
No chain, no acid
could pin me DOWN
Upon
the corpse
of
your hatred
I BUILT a new
Fairy Town
EACH DAY
on the wings of success
I FLEW
EACH DAY
BRAVE new
laurels I EARNED
EACH DAY
in a dungeon of regret
you ROTTED
EACH DAY in the
acid of frustration
You BURNED
You plastered
my face with a new password
You plundering
sinister
remorseless HACKER
They called me
#AcidVictim
Why not you
#ACIDATTACKER?
You CHARRED
my wings
You WROTE me OFF
Derailed
my destiny’s entire COURSE
I reignited my extinguished light
FORTIFIED
with the angels’
Quadrupled FORCE
BLAZING the
Global Ramp Walks
I LAUGH
As each day
your plight
plunges SORRIER
WATCHING me win
accolades and laurels
And BLOSSOM
From
#VICTIM
to
#WARRIOR
–PUJA BHAKOO
Note: If my poem has touched you in any way, please consider helping me raise funds for the rehabilitation of Acid Attack Survivors like Reshma by donating whatever amount you deep fit at the link given below. Every rupee will help. I request you to share this link with your friends and family.
–Puja Bhakoo
https://milaap.org/fundraisers/mlns
Keywords:
Reshma, Acid, Acid Attack Survivor, Acid Attacks, Being Reshma, Puja Bhakoo, Puja Bhakoo Handcrafted Tapestries.
