The Ritual…!

“As if the ritual

To burn

To suffer

To scream

And pray

For salvation

At the feet of the bygone

As if the pacification

Being a privilege

Of corpses

As if the cries

Are meant to be

Lullaby

As if the tattering shadows

are meant to carry

the weight of darkness

in the wide open graves

robbed of its gloom

off the wailing nights

where silence is a delicacy

often served dipped in

blood and tears

where luxury of solitude

requires one to pay

the price of

emancipation

to the mob

that enthralls itself

at the sight of

kneeling heap of cowards

and treads upon

their hollow groan

chanting liberation

as if a ritual

to succumb

to fall, in

an unavoidable chasm

of regrets

as if a ritual

to perform

the sermons of life…”

Praveen Parasar

20/7/2017