Prisoners

The night creeps under the skin
Limbs stiff, eyes wide awake
As the day dawns and alarms blare
The prisoners arise to face another day

The scramble begins from house to house
The screaming, the jostling, the angry shouts
Half eaten plates,  half made beds
Empty homes waiting for the night

Hordes and hordes of hopes and dreams
Of plans and worries, of needs and wants
Neckbands chafing against the raw skin
Achy feet stuffed in high, high heels

Pretensions and schemes, defeats and triumphs
Each day continues in a battle after battle
Some lay dying, others are wounded
Bitter, bitter hearts live for another day

A day when there'd be freedom
A day when there'd be life
A day when fulfillment can be
Savored with delight

But the day will never come
For the nests will forever be empty
The little birds who seek to smile
Would have flown away forever

The prisoners will then
Have  count their own wrinkles
The joy of the triumph, the ache of defeats
Will fade away as do their eyes

Arundhati (July 29 2017)

Burn

I will stay and I will burn
Even as the heat
Chokes my lungs
Stings my eyes
Scorches my skin with its fiery whip
I will not struggle
I will not complain
I will just stay and accept the blaze
I will stay and I will burn

Let it come, let it come and have at it
For it will find no fight behind these doors
There will be no cries, no wailing for mercy
Neither a queer pleasure in pain
If come it must, it must see a stoic face
A clear mind and no regrets

Understand this before you balk
Life is burning and burning is living
Burning for pleasure, burning for pain
Burning for love, burning in lust
Burning in desire, burning in fulfillment
Burning in action and burning in regret

Each of us burns and burn we do
Even as we cringe and cry and complain
Even when we bask in glory and fame
For one day we fear it shall slip again
As we get flung in the abyss of pain

Up and down, up and down we go
Being dipped over and over in this scalding river
As the ferris wheel turns and turns again
And life becomes a game of pleasure and pain

What for the fear and why the complaint
When you can just own and accept your pain
Face it in full with your back straight
And let it just burn right in your face
It will just burn and burn itself out
With it, it will take your regrets and doubts
You will then shine and wear your scars
With a warrior's pride in a warrior's heart