The Shattered Sky
The picture changed —
How suddenly, almost overnight.
Those days of eating together,
Sitting together, talking for hours —
They flew away in an instant.
So many Rakhi Purnimas have passed,
So many Bhai Dooj festivals gone by —
Through all those long years,
Streams of joy flowed through
The deep bond of brother and sisterly love.
And yet, how all of it vanished
In the blink of an eye.
Now, above our heads,
Circles the claw of a demon —
It will drink the blood
Of our ancestral land,
Chew and devour its flesh and bone.
So many religious gatherings we’ve seen,
So many divine words uttered
With fluent, devoted lips —
And yet, now, throttling those very voices,
It rages like a mad elephant,
Trampling the ties of kinship.
He who was once the helmsman,
He who sat upon a god’s seat in our eyes —
His throne trembled,
Quaked like an earthquake.
And from the torn seams of his robe
Emerged a ravenous darkness,
Rampaging across the land
Of our forefathers.
We fell —
Like meteors —
Scattered here and there,
Across the shattered sky
Of what once was home.
