Aqsa

“It’s a folly to be wise, where ignorance is bliss”

-Anon.

Stuck!
Now and always
Suffocating, helpless, desperate
Struggling to escape
To be free
To fly away
To the red planet
Away, somewhere…
Just anywhere…
All efforts… in vain
Alas!
There is a dearth of wings
Wings, strong wings
Not Daedalus’ wings
Breaking through all shackles
Tugging at those
Innumerable chains that bind
Some, thin like the charkha’s cotton thread
Broken with ease
Some like those that bind a convict
To the executioner’s chair
Impossible to break lose
Myself… writhing in pain
No matter what I do
How hard I try
I know I can’t
Destiny, fate, determine it all!
My thoughts, my actions
Deeds
All predetermined!
They stand stagnant still grubby
Rotting dead
Flee I must
I don’t know where
May be… just anywhere
Perhaps… to the red planet
Or may be in the deep dark woods
To hide inside a bush
Now and always
Depressed, disillusioned, at the doldrums I stand
Now convinced that
All is fake
Nothing exists that seems to exist
Flee I must
Away from all maladies
Somewhere
Just anywhere

-Sudipta Mukherji
(Adapted from the annual magazine “Hans� of Hans Raj College)