Congregations; five or more

 

If the soldiers were to turn into trees,

Kashmir would accept them as her own.

 

If the AK-47s dangling from their shoulders

Would melt into their bodies

And form thick sturdy trunks.

 

If thousands of intertwined roots would emerge

From the soles of their jackboots,

We could, maybe, integrate?

 

If they would spread their arms as branches

at the end of their fingertips,

roses would bloom.

 

Seven hundred thousand roses,

Across the mountains and orchards,

Playgrounds and streets,

And in the broken houses of exodus.

 

Seven hundred thousand roses,

And thirty-eight thousand more,

In all the shades of crimson

That Shahid loved.

 

Boys and girls would come out,

congregate outside their homes,

In the assembly of five or more.

 

Sadaf Wani is research scholar at Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi.  Her work has been published at Sahapedia and Wande Magazine. She is from Kashmir and currently based in Delhi.