Cambodian Genocide Remembered

As I was visiting the S21 Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh last week, it suddenly hit me that none of the leaders were prosecuted yet for this gruesome inhuman act.

It's only a little more than 3 decades since the Khmer genocide which killed at least 1.7 million people but we, as a humanity, must never let this testimony pass by.

I shed tears for the beautiful people of Cambodia
I cry for the couple who were separated,
blindfolded and sent to the mass graves
I cry for the people who laboured in the fields
only to have rice taken from them
I cry for the prisoners who were made to confess
for petty crimes they never did
I cry for the women who were given to young prison guards
to be raped, beaten and tortured
I cry for the children who were snatched from theirs mothers
to be taken for a walk and be killed
I cry for the boy who was gathering branches in the field
when the grenade exploded and tore him apart
I cry for the amputee who was given a wooden leg
so that he could walk a little
I cry for compassion and justice to rain upon the people
whose war criminals have only now being brought to trial
Behind every smile there is deep sadness
Behind every light there is darkness
but if a young beautiful people should suffer and die
How much greater was that light that shone on them
How much more terrifying was the darkness that surrounded them

Words r mine ©