UNTITLED
By Bianca Honnekeri
We want Justice.
Justice for Reuben and Keenan.
Justice for Humanity.
We want to feel safe and secure,
Even the darkest of dingy alleys shouldn’t bring a hint of the unsure.
If only people’s hearts were pure,
We wouldn’t have to wash down our breakfasts with daily tales of gore.
Respect women, respect children, respect the elderly, respect people.
Lives aren’t created to be destroyed.
End the rage, distrust and base cruelty,
And so many ways in which Evil is employed.
Right to freedom of expression and movement, it applies to everyone,
Please don’t believe true power comes with wielding a gun,
Why should you have to accompany everywhere your young son?
We want a country with laws from whom no one can run.
Laws that can punish the guilty,
Laws that scare wrongdoers from doing wrong,
Laws that ensure justice most strictly,
And where the case doesn’t become many decades long.
We deserve a society where safety and goodness is the norm,
Where every attempt at justice doesn’t need to be accelerated by a public storm,
Where a girl is as safe on a train at midnight as she is when locked in her dorm,
Where the greatest threat to a child in a garden is a harmless insect swarm.
We want our Emergency Response Services to actually be equipped to respond to an emergency,
Where helplines fall in line and help,
We want critical response that comes with a sense of urgency,
Where a timely ambulance siren prevents that last despairing yelp.
We are tired of seeing families torn apart,
With every passing day there are more horrifying incidents that rip your heart.
When will our systems work cohesively and play their part,
In truly putting an end to crime, instead of merely contributing to a fancier pie chart?
From Amboli to Airoli,
From Mumbai to Delhi,
From Kashmir to Kanyakumari,
We want Justice.
Justice for Reuben and Keenan.
Justice for Humanity.
We want Justice.
Justice for Reuben and Keenan.
Justice for Humanity.
(This poem has been intentionally titled ‘Untitled’ as Justice seems to be untitled, rather than entitled to us.)
About the Author
