From the Heartland – Delhi Poetry Slam

From the Heartland

By Hima Raju

We are a lonely, secluded tribe.
Far from the madding crowd,
we speak a language that people who live
in the outskirts of their own selves
may not fully understand.
They look at our blood-stained hands,
feet and faces in disgust,
but how can we look any different
when we've built our homes
on the banks of our blood,
a river that floods throughout the year?
There are treasures we pick from the riverbed
even when it threatens to drown us.
There are trees that stretch their roots riverward
and fruits that burst with the taste of blood.
We have our own offerings for the world
and this is how we sustain ourselves,
worshipping the river that's as old as we are,
listening to the gongs in our hearts
like they're calls for prayers.
The words in our language imitate
the sounds of our river
and you call them crude and uncivilized.
"You, the ones who live from your heart
are not fit for our world", you say.
And yet, there's something you cannot deny.
That you are allured
by our knowledge of the heart
like it's an ancient magic that exists to heal you.
You think we deserve to be lonely,
our ways of existence, loud, biting and raw.
But, are we so different from you?
Don't you see how the parts of you
that have become oppressors to us
are oppressing you too?
You and us, we speak different languages
and we worship different things
but are you telling us
your heart never calls out to you?


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