Cries of Paletwa

(Photo: CHRO)

C. Van Lian Tu
15 November 2020

Children cry in fear when they hear the noise;
In their ears is the echo of bombing and shooting.
Frightened as if being threatened by lightning,
They flinch and run for refuge, girls and boys.

Villages become battlefield and hence civilians victims;
They flee empty-handed amidst black fumes and flames.
With the ill and the aged carried in bamboo frames,
Families make their ways in the dark as they scream.

Sandwiched between Arakan Army and Tatmadaw,
The Chin suffer this much in a man-made shadow;
Trapped betwixt high mountains and deep valleys,
No longer can they walk as they are tired and hungry.

Mothers lost their beloved sons and daughters,
Killed or burnt in artillery attacks, day and night;
Un-tarred roads are blocked and fettered by-passers,
Stranded in their own land, the Chin are in a dire plight.