The sandals belonging to the nineteen-year-old Dalit girl who had been raped by upper caste men in Hathras in 2020 The sandals belonging to the nineteen-year-old Dalit girl who had been raped by upper caste men in Hathras in 2020

And did you die a Dalit’s death?Where you were strippedand floggedtied to a pole like a thief?slotsdreamer

And did they make you dragyour bodyas a testamentto what happensWhen your loveis too radical?

And did you die a Dalit’s deathWhen the state washed its handsafter touching you.And did they hoist that body upwhen the sunwas still shiningas an exampleof what happenswhen you ask for a placeIn the church?

Ask for a place for the poor,the sick,the outcast,and the untouchableIn this sham called a society.

Were you stabbed after you diedbecause even after all the bleedingtheir thirst wasn’t quenched?

And did you die a Dalit’s deathwhere your motherhad to watch helplesslyas a sword ran through her heartfor the rest of her life.Did she hold the rest of your brothers close,hugged them a little longer,kissed their forehead a little harder,knowing that a Dalit’s deathmight be written on them too.

And did even God himself forsake you?And if you didnt know that Sunday was an Easter,that Sunday was resurrection,that on Sunday your body would be made whole,would you still have chosen a Dalit’s death to die?

// An Oppari For Love!

Daniel Sukumar, Karnataka

(Daniel Sukumar is a spoken word poet and a stage artist. His poetry aims at initiating conversations around mental healthslotsdreamer, politics, and caste oppression. He mentors student poets and has played a huge role in the development of slam poetry in Bengaluru.)

• slotsdreamer
• Death
• Poem
• Dalit