The stone-pelter's lullaby

Mou’ji, sing me a lullaby tonight

Too many faces made of white smoke

Smother me when I close my eyes

My dreams are on a leash, and

Olive green monsters stalk my breaths

Mou’ji, sing me a lullaby

Mou’ji, burn my clothes while I sleep

Too many friends have bled on the Shirt,

You brought for me when Eid last came

For when the demons come for me,

Let them never handle threads sanctified by blood

Mou’ji, burn my clothes while I sleep

Mou’ji, take away and bury my school books

My classroom is now a sandbag bunker

My fingers will trace words in the dark now

Every page full of the names of the dead

One by one, till I am one of them

Mou’ji, take away and bury my school books

Mou’ji, don’t cry when they bring me home

For even if there is no heaven, I refuse to be choked

My hands are scarred from the edges of stones

But iron chains are heavier still

Even when gilded with fool’s gold

Mou’ji, don’t cry when they bring me home

* Mou'ji - Kashmiri for mother

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