By Ayesha Aly Sultana
Dear People,
Congratulations!
I am stuck.
And I will be stuck till my last breath.
And,
I will be hungry to my death.
I tried to escape.
I struggled,
I panicked,
I fought,
and I got...
even more stuck.
My fur, my skin is tearing off.
I even chewed my limbs
to be free somehow.
But,
no success till now.
I guess, there is no escape.
And even if I escape,
I will stick to everything on my way,
until I die and start to decay.
In a fruitless struggle,
it's been hours I'm here,
somewhere in the house
squeeking and hissing in fear.
Every soul will taste death.
But, I'll die a slow death.
I'll die starving,
I'll die trying,
panicking, suffocating;
I'll die losing all my strength.
Now, it's been two days
and I'm thrown out of the house.
Can't hiss, can't squeak;
life is left just an ounce.
A visitor came,
a cawing crow.
I wasn't scared
to see him though.
The will to live
is long gone.
Finally death is knocking door.
But alas!
I was too stuck to be his prey.
With some glue in his beak,
he went away.
My face, my legs...
my body is still glued.
Broken bones,
broken will...
waiting for death
in solitude.
Well...
not really solitude!
As the ants, the flies
are stuck too.
Trying to run,
trying to flee
trying to escape
the inhumane glue!
Anytime the glue will now
block my nasal passage.
It is the time!
On behalf of the voiceless-kinds,
to the humankind,
I wish to deliver a message.
I know we are trouble-makers.
Perhaps of no use.
Still, if you put yourself
in our shoes,
you'll know—
no crime can be
worthy of the glues!
Kill us,
if you must,
but not like this.
Maybe a little mercy,
a little humanity,
if I may wish.
Anything
but the sticky trap please.
Any death
but a death like this!
~ a dying rat
in your sticky trap