Blues of the Victims

It is all a ploy to divert you

from your chosen path

to the by-lanes where we live. So that

you get a firsthand feel

of our misery: our children weeping

at midnight from bad dreams,

our parents being old and senile,

blaming us for their distress.

Voices you hear in your musing

are not of night birds.

It is the work song

of the corpse bearers returning

to spend the rest of the night

with their living. The wind has joined

our campaign. The river bears

placards of our movement.

From the window of your fortress,

you watch cloud

carrying our messages

and storm melting into rain

like your sad heart. Oh no,

we won’t let you go

without hearing the full account

of our anguish –

we made Buddha abandon

his way of indulgence.

We turned Ashoka into

a saint from a monster.

-------------- Bimal Sharma

Bimal Sharma is a freelance journalist and writer who lives in Port Blair, India

<-- PREVIOUS NEXT-->