ARTFUL PINCERS

A terror of alikeness looms 
like stricken birds, incenerated in split seconds. 
You smell the burning flesh in an air blitz. 
Nearing endgame a conceptual hate 
is jettisioned in sky. You start collecting 
the fragments of life. 

Words start jumping. You refuse to accept 
more than the want. And yet a finite 
listening was absent. And the secret kennel 
in the dead child fails to sprout. The toys 
and dreams lie unattended on birthday 
of the nation. A monogamous judge ascends 
to heaven. 

Any durable peace on the way? Unruffled 
you are still in freezing water. The boat 
is half-submerged and tears are burning 
the deck. No wrinkles. The fish nod 
their fins for the final plunge.

Satish Verma