They dragged the old woman out into the streets.

“Burn the witch! Burn the witch! “

With tears in her eyes that ran amok,

She pleaded for her life.

“Oh, please! I am not a witch. I have….”

A brick hit her head and cut her pleas short.

They took off her clothes.

And stripped her of her last dignity.

All because of an incident where she had convulsions

And her eyes turned sheer white.

Lashes, one after the other, landed on her body,

Each whip ripped apart her skin.

“Please! Please! I am begging of you!”

Her lamentations fell on deaf ears.

These people were out for blood.

They were ridding the community of a witch.

They chained her neck with a car wheel

And deluged petrol all over her.

She apprehended the end of her life

And solemnly prayed to God to accept her soul.

And the man who started the rumour

Lit the match.

And her body went up in flames.

She let out a piercing scream that reached the ends of the earth.

She rolled all over the ground,

Until her body was still.

All because of ignorance and misjudgements.

The truth was that the old woman

Was epileptic.