DIWALI

The diyas are lit
The darkness surrenders
It's diwali again
But my heart wanders

Let me light a diya
For the soldier who did return,
But not as a son, a husband, a father
But as ashes in an urn.

Let me light a diya
For the girl who was stabbed to death in daylight
For she spurned the advances of a man,
And he took her life to avenge the slight.

Let me light a diya
For the life that was nipped at bud.
Just because she happened to be of the wrong sex
she was murdered in the womb in cold blood.

Let me light a diya
For the farmer who decided to end his life
Rather than see his children go to bed hungry
Or the flesh being traded of his wife.

Let me light a diya
For the girl who brutally was raped
And the world called it her fault
When in the white sheet she lay draped.

Let me light diya
For the child who was denied medical aid on time
As she passed away in her mother's arms
Her innocent eyes asked " is a bring poor a crime?"

Let me light a diya
For all innocent lives that were lost
For you and me did not care enough
For our apathy, with their life they paid the cost.

So the last diya is for my conscience
That is no more alive.
I remained a mute witness to the injustice around me
To change the things, I did not strive.