Tremble seeing shadows emerge from dark.
There lies a truth, thick with disdain,
Now writhing in bottomless pain.
Red bindi between those eyes,
Hollowed spirit burnt by cries.
Barbaric hands, tainted with deceit,
Shred her saree to an acidic beat.
They come shameless as night,
Soaked in power’s greedy blight.
Their fists snuff out the light,
As dead bodies tremble with fright.
Their laughter mocks the silent screams
Of lives denigrated, torn at the seams.
Bodies bruised, souls bled.
Freedom crushed beneath bully’s tread.
The dead poet squirms in his grave,
Couldn’t a single of his dignity save.
The homeless Baul wanders away,
His songs turned impotent yesterday.
No justice here, only ceaseless cries,
Earth parched dry by weeping eyes.
The State, a fortress of despair,
Where mercy’s voice hangs mid-air.
Are those living men who stand and stare?
Hypnotised as if by brutality’s naked flare.
Regime in and regime out,
Ugly truth prevails, have no doubt.
Tumultuous war of words breaks out on X,
Their guiltless souls appear through cracks.
When this fool looked up from her phone,
Plunderers left behind decimated pride to mourn.
You can look away, trust me I tried,
The angst within not yet dried.
Each time I imagine rushing in with aid,
Annual bonus yanks at me, ghost of values fade.
