Poetry

How Many More Candlelight Vigils?

A Poem by PARVINDER MEHTA

NEWS (The Guardian): Tuesday - February 10, 2015

Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA

Three young Muslim students were shot dead in North Carolina, as speculation mounted that the killings might be linked to their religion.

Craig Stephen Hicks, who turned himself in to police, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder in connection with the shooting deaths which took place on Tuesday (February 10, 2015) night in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

The victims are Deah Barakat, 23; his wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21; and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19.

Deah was a second-year dental student at the University of North Carolina, where his wife was planning to begin her dental studies in the fall. Her sister was a student at North Carolina State University.

Police responded to reports of gunshots at 5.11 pm on Tuesday. All three victims were pronounced dead at the scene.
 

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HOW MANY MORE CANDLELIGHT VIGILS?

I see those youthful smiles

and feel the tears for

those bonds, those friendships,

those promises, those hopes for

a better world, cut short by

cold, vicious agendas, blind

to our own mortality.

What words matter, what counsel

to abhorrent minds that only see

the surface and not the core

of our humanity?

To imagine those mournful screams

loudly choking with helpless loss,

pelting the grieving hearts

I hope silently for some harmony.

Do I dare apologize for our silent

reticence of these troubled times?

Do I fear the hate-mongers

seeking oblivious victims?

How many more candlelight vigils,

How many more solidarities

do we need to affirm?

With tears in my eyes, I know I must

find a kinder meaning, clinging on this hope

to confirm the sanctity of

those relations and bonds,

those friendships, those promises,

those hopes for a better world.

February 11, 2015

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