Trigger warning: This poem contains explicit details about sexual assault which may be triggering to survivors.
Neck was slit
Breasts were cut
Private parts mutilated
An Indian woman
Raped and killed.
Brutal, inhumane.
I was supposed to
Rise in rage
Yell out loud.
Yet what I feel now
Is more helpless, more tired.
Tired of carving words
Describing the brutal act
Tired of hashtags
That make no difference
Tired of the quests
Launched in the search for justice.
Tired of a media
That normalises rape.
I’m no more the same
My shaky voice
My jumbled words
My insignificant hashtags
Make no sense.
For I am tired.
In a country where
Rape is just another bit of news,
I’m tired of being
‘just another’.
Minha Fathima is a mass communication and journalism graduate.
Featured image credit: Pariplab Chakraborty