Groundviews

Ashes at the Stake – For Lasantha

I remember the day I heard
Richard was killed
Almost twenty years ago.
Far away in the diaspora
I sat all night
My back bent
and still.

Regimes shifted,
People still disappeared
into the night
Witches, burnt at the stake
A sacrifice,
An offering..
In the name of the nation,

Today I heard
Lasatha was killed.
“One of us” who spoke
for the “them”,
Burnt at the stake..
Another offering..
In the name of the nation.

Far away in the diapora
I have sat still
With a bent back.
For much too long.
Slowly
The Ashes
Gather momentum…

Francesca
USA

Exit mobile version