Water

Shamik Banerjee

At an April high-noon, upon a ground,

hundreds aggrouped from Punjab’s East and West,

inside Jallianwala Bagh’s compound,

‘gaints the British to lead a calm protest.

Seated were they and orderly discoursed,

none thought would a mayhem their peace uproot.

Then asudden, an affright, through them coursed;

when General Dyer commanded, “Shoot!”.

Large unarmed men in this melee got slain.

Some floundered ablood, some jumped in a well;

some hid in corpse-heaps; some sneaked in a wain;

this furor was the conspectus of hell.

After few hours, when a father came,

to search for his youngthly son and daughter;

he saw carrions- innards out, aflame;

and heard an airless voice, mumbling, “Water!”.

This poem is about the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre which took place during the British reign on India. On April 13 a large crowd gathered in an open space known as the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar in the Punjab region of India to protest the measures; troops opened fire, killing nearly fifteen hundred citizens.

Shamik Banerjee is a poet and poetry reviewer from India.