A HOME WE ARE IN NEED
Sleepless nights after
sleepless nights
I thought over and over
again,
But to no conclusion I
came,
Where, how and when?
A house we have indeed,
But a Home we are in
need!
A house is not a home,
If you don’t belong to
it!
It was in 2003* when it
all began
When our home and
village, 10
Burnt to ashes like a
dream
No choice left but refuge
Then, here and there
A shelter we’re not in
want
But a Home we are much in want!
But not easy to find or
never?
They say why don’t you?…
Aren’t you?...or even
rebuke
But never they understand us,
Coz’ we talk and look like them, 20
But not say and see like them.
And it's harsher with
poverty
To survive but not live;
Longing for belonging
Only hoping for the time
When we shall have Home
Yet not it comes at once
Yet not I lose hope
either
To live like this is
hell
Impossible to bear
forever! 30
One day or some day
Far or near unknown
Our eyes and heart
Will see and sing with
joy, this way
"This is our home, friends
Come, eat and drink;
Hey Bro, Sis, Mom, Dad,
Take rest; Now we live,
In our
sweet HOME” 39
*This refers to the ethnic cleansing
campaign of the Dimasas in 2003 when they burnt down many of the Hmar villages,
in N.C. Hills, Assam, including ours. Thousands of the Hmars, including
us, had to flee our villages and seek refuge in several parts of the country. We,
of course, got shelter some way or other, but never regain the past and recover
the huge material loss, not to speak of the loss of precious human lives. I
think our lot nears the lot of war victims in several parts of the world.
R. L. Muon Inbuon, Kolasib, 6th Dec 2012
(This poem has been published in the souvenir of HSA Platinum Jubilee. Thanks to the Editorial Board).
(This poem has been published in the souvenir of HSA Platinum Jubilee. Thanks to the Editorial Board).
