This poem is a wail in the memory of the young rape and murder victim of Kathua. It was written in January 2018, when the ghastly incident took place. The poem’s poignancy and anger need a revisit after the perpetrators of the crime were convicted on Monday, June 10, 2019.Stop all worship now – the child is deadThe incense, lamp, drum, the chowrieStop everything this moment – the child is deadThose walking in and out, don’t, don’t strike the bellLock all the temples – the child is dead.The nation is defiled*.It was still a child, caught in the ripping caninesOf demons in masks of men, it’s dead indeedFlower-like child, it’s crushed indeedLamp-like child, aiyoh!Can’t you see? It’s extinguished.It took horses to grazeHorses came back, but the child didn’tThe wait was long enoughThe child’s time to eat, the child’s time to playIt’s time to laugh, time kept coming back, not the childIt’s dead. I know the foreboding smell of blood.Aiyoh the child is dead! The nation is defiled.Immeasurable grief is ragingDon’t you have any decency?Don’t you get what’s being saidStop your laughter, your celebrationsStop your rhythmic chant, festivity of hymnsStop your polls, politics, provocationsWhere is he lying dead, the lord of lords?The deaf deity, the blind masterDrag him outLet him go back after he slashes and slaysThose who killed and those who killTill then shut the sanctum sanctorumUntil then none go inNone shall wash off the desecrationThe nation is defiled. Silence is tiringThe sound of chatter is tiringJust need the child’s life back.Do you see air quivering, still land quaking?Aren’t you able to hear again! A feeble voice?Calling out ‘save me’And again, who, from where, till whenQuietly snuffing out the child’s cry.Oh, a nation ever desecrated, don’t you really get it?A nation ever in disguise, a nation that’s lost its eyesA nation that’s soon becoming a havenOf eagles, vultures, of degeneratesOf street-side predatorsWho never get women.My Bharatamata – this is enoughCome, let’s go elsewhere, far awayBut where do we really go!* The original Kannada word used here is ‘sutaka’. It roughly means impure/defilement/desecration. It’s a cultural idea that is hard to capture in translation. It is used to indicate an impure phase of time after both birth and death among Hindus. To rid this impurity, one is expected to perform certain rituals.Vaidehi is the pen name of renowned Kannada writer Janaki Srinivasa Murthy. She has published a number of volumes of short stories, essays, poetry and drama. She won the Sahitya Akademi Award for her collection of short stories, Krauncha Pakshigalu in 2009. Her short story Gulabi Talkies was made into a film, in 2008, by Girish Kasaravalli, and won the national award for best actress.Translated from Kannada by Sugata Srinivasaraju