Dixit K. C. is a writer from Nepal currently living in Finland. In poetry, he finds a way of expressing some reflections about life, death and the memories that remain through time and space. His poem “Reminiscence” describes the horrors of conflict and war through the eyes of a defeated witness whose freedom is forever lost.
REMINISCENCE
I lived a war, killed and wounded a few of my own
I took your ‘path’ without denial, the path you had shown
It will set us free, the path, as you used to say
Fought hard for that freedom, never dared to betray
To fight for ones’ rights has always been the core of mankind
So I stacked my books, I left my school behind
With a gun in my hand, and wounded friends on my shoulder
A son of a farmer, and yet I fought like a soldier
Bodies kept on piling, as the war was fought
With dreams to live and die for, only justice was sought
And once the fighting ended, I thought we had won
I wanted to go back to my school, but it was long gone
My house was burnt down, my kin missing for ages now
My field was barren and its soil smelt of our family cow
Is this where the path ends? I ask you again
Is this the price I have to pay for abandoning my pen?
Do I live within the barbed wires or accept paltry sum to walk free?
Where do I head from here when there is no home to be?
Justice you preached all the years, and see what I got
A lost youth in a misleading war craving for blood.
**
Photos by Matt Ferr.
