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You are Dying, Columbus


You are dying, Columbus.
I wish your corpse would carry to your grave
the sins you committed
against whole races of people,
my people, and all the other people,
whom you held to ransom
in the name of a god and a king and his queen.

What were you but a thief, a murderer and a rapist?
You came armed with a sword in one hand
and the Bible in the other.
Our women were naive to welcome you
with gifts of parrots and bales of cotton;
They showered their hospitality on you
and made spears for your men on your demand.
And you killed them with those spears
after raping them.

Did your god smile
when you poured the baptismal water
on our infants
who grew up to be plunderers
of the earth
like you?

We were clay in your hands
and you moulded us
in your image.
We despise us
in your image.


PS: America is celebrating Oct 12 as Columbus Day.

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Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 11, 2015 at 8:56 PM

    Apt poem on Columbus Day. The atrocities Columbus committed on the natives do not find much mention in history though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amit AgarwalOctober 12, 2015 at 4:05 PM

    Rarest of rare thought! Profound, poignant and true...Wonderfully presented, sir!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tomichan MatheikalOctober 12, 2015 at 4:31 PM

    Thank you, Amit ji.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Roohi BhatnagarOctober 12, 2015 at 8:32 PM

    History is full of controversies..Better not celebrate any such Days and just live in the moment!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalOctober 12, 2015 at 8:51 PM

      But can we ignore history? Won't it haunt us anyway?

      Delete

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