The Devil Incarnate Poem by Ayesha iSha

One day they’d come

After us

Brandishing weapons

With flowing beards

And fierce faces

They’d order

The closure of girls’ schools

And force every woman to

Wrap up in ‘burqa’

Those defying would be slaughtered

And hanged in chowk

One day they’d come

After us

With their ferocious eyes

And grotesque features

Ordering to follow

Their draconian laws

Those denying wouldn’t

Find peace even in their graves

One day they’d come

After us

Ordering a ban

On music and gatherings

On literature and traditions

On laughter and every little thing that

Makes people happy

I fear the day

When they’d come after us

The flowers would stop to bloom in ‘the land of flowers’

The spring would forget to return

In the land of terrorized

They - the devil incarnate

Have a sole mission

To stuff eyes with ashes

Of those who dare to dream