AGE OF INNOCENCE NO MORE

I read my first book when I was six

 At six I spent my time in  a huge garden near my house .

At six I wanted a meal of chocolates and instant noodles

Jimmy, my dog was my best friend

At six I played endless hours of house with my sister

I was the pampered child of my grandmother

At six I developed my love for swimming and splashed water all over.

To reach a birthday party late and miss the cake cutting was my biggest worry

At six all I wanted to do was run outside and play in the rain

Every butterfly enticed me to catch it At six every stranger was my friend

School was where I loved being

The playground, the open fields and my friends

It was the best place to be.

At six I was a happy child

Thirty years hence

At six a child gets gang raped in school

At six when she has not even begun her life, it is terminated.

The dreams of flowers and peacocks, of chocolates and Disneyland

Of being a pilot or an actor or simply to be a six year old die away

At six, the best place is where the worst fears come true

School is not where I would want my daughter at six.

 At six hope and laughter, smiles and innocence, taken away

Six is not a pretty age any more

 At Six the soul is full of fear and suspicion, mistrust and hatred .

R does not stand for a rose,

Now R stands for Rape.

Years back I was a happy child at six

At six, a girl is dead and her rapists absconding.

Her soul crying for the healing touch of her mother

A life snatched away, brutally and savagely

At six a life that would have been is a life no more