life will losen it's grip on me
death will take it's toll on me
though she's angry with all of us
it is i to whom she'll stick like puss
and spell a never ending decay
until my will breaks and she can take me away

a child is born, another man dies
and the wail changes to cries
happiness changes to sadness
and everything is drawn into emptiness

i was born in a field of corn
and when the time was ripe, they just cut my pipe
i screamed and yelled, but could not be heard
it was as though i had changed into a tiny bird

there was blood all over me
i was suffocating and i choked
i looked at my creator and begged for mercy
but he gave me more pain as blessing
HIS smile chilled me and i shuddered

i stood alone in the tunnel of never
thinking…was i really born to die

epilogue:

leaving me alone
she(life) left me without a sigh
i ended like a meteor falling from the sky
hurry a bit and we'll have an empty sky…

Devesh Joshi

He was the boss of our house,
An undisputed dictator,
We never questioned his authority,
And he never gave us any answers,

We would wait for him for dinner,
And he would get the lion’s share,
He never taught us anything,
We did not know anything about him

But one day that wait was endless,
We slept without dinner,
The next morning we got up with a cry,
He was dead we got to hear,
We all cried along with them,
As a customary tradition,

They were shouting and calling him a martyr,
Well he was not a soldier, no revolutionary not even a terrorist,
A small political party worker,
Who set him ablaze, during a protest,

My father, my guardian, the ruler of my life,
Who did not allow me a breath without his permission,
Killed himself on his party’s provocation.
I feel so empty, so hollow, it feels so weird.

Now again it’s the season of election,
I see so many of them,
Shouting slogans, singing praise,
I cannot understand what drives them,
Hundred of them, just like my father,
Who could not love their families,
But love their leader.

Meera Iyer