23 Light Years: The Maryada of Nation of Ram

Mujeeb Jaihoon’s tribute to Abdul Gani Goni, a Kashmiri teacher, acquitted after illegally imprisoned for 23 years

Justice embarrassed
In the mirror of humanity
Patience wept
In the lap of forgiveness

A mother’s heart
Scorched in the furnace of pain
For a glance of her son
Stolen by the Blind State

For 23 Light Years
A shallow story the State framed
Only to admit in the end
They had shamelessly erred

With neither personal vengeance
Nor legal recourse
That Son of India gifted
His foes with forgiveness

The Maryada of the Nation of Ram,
The Purushothaman
Is in forgiving the foe:
So taught the Kashmir’s slandered Teacher.

July 28 2019. Edit 2024

Notes

A mother’s heart: Gani’s mother died while he was in prison. Despite her multiple attempts for parole, she could see her son on the deathbed.

Maryada Purushothaman: Literally meaning the ‘Perfect man’, Lord Ram, the Hindu deity, is known for his virtues of forgiveness and kindness.