A Dialogue With Death
written by: Sonali Lakhera
I met him round the corner
stealing a young soul –
very young about five
I questioned –
How could he…
my voice broke.
Because I could not speak to death
He answered exhaustively…
This is not the first time –
I am a shape shifter
come morphed
as accidents, illness,
suicides, murders,
cold shocks and heatwaves,
Drought and rain lashed landslides,
Famine and starvation
Seeping in through air, and water,
soil and animals
and humans as well.
This time it’s pestilence perhaps.
Target is much high,
It is a corporate
And the boss is never satisfied.
I delegated it to my team
And soon there were reapers
All around, everywhere,
In every village and town,
Slums and skyscrapers,
Markets and homes,
In all the nooks and crannies,
In air and water and land.
The complacent humans,
Top among the food chain,
and very high up
in the great chain of being;
Conquering the skies
fathoming the oceans
traversing the universe though,
The condescending being,
not coming to a pause – Ever.
So, I had a plan –
a little fancy one.
A sadist that I am-
I arrived silently, stealthily,
The invisible one
Challenging their senses.
I could neither move nor swim nor fly.
But the arrogant human
took me to places
in cruises and planes,
In carts and trains,
all around the world
And I spread.
As an invisible, indestructible;
From body to body
making my presence
in as little as a sneeze
or a cough
What big deal is it for them?
the conquerors of fate.
I suffocated them
so many of the superior race
The race that claims
to rule the universe
Couldn’t win over –
the invisible me.
I lifted the souls,
Reaped so many
from morning till night
through the night
till dawn
over and over.
The target had to be met
It is a corporate after all.
I was not all bad.
came with a little blessing.
The planet healed
and streams glistened
with waters cool and clean.
The breeze was crisp
and spring was clean
and I thought this would remain
after my target is met
and I am gone
The human will realize
That life is not
a game of numbers
but a tale to be relished
Wrong was I!
For once I was back
to take an old tired soul
I saw the arrogant human
eating all species
Of flora and fauna;
Sending new satellites,
Designing more weapons;
Killing one another
Over race and religion
money and nation;
Back to business
of destruction.
I shed a silent tear
over the death of sense
Lo the tribe – how will you succeed
Lo the tribe how will you increase.
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