The World Turned Upside Down

-K Radhakumar

I do not have the imaginative empathy
With my subject –
The harsh countenance of the age,
The predicament of the hard times
We live in.
It is not that
I picture the scene in my mind’s eye;
It is a harsh reality of daily life.
I live with the consequences of my decision:
Part of me feels sorry for it.

Friends exchange hellos
And the surrounding concrete walls
Send back echoes of forced smiles.
In the year 44BC
Caesar could, and would, say
‘et tu, Brute’;
They lived and died
For what they believed
And when they said
‘Thy need is greater than mine’,
They were not putting on an act.

Fathers receive cards and gifts from their children
On Father’s Day;
So do mothers
On Mother’s Day.
A matter of routine!
One becomes a mother
As a matter of routine.
Loveless marriage!
People get married
Just for the sake of it.
Life needs a break from routine.

Political parties campaign vigorously
To win the national election –
The whole country is in the grip of election fever.
There is an elector
Who does not believe a word of the campaign.
Cheap one-upmanship.
Character assassination.
Politicians!
Do not wash your dirty linen in public.
The terrorists plant bombs at crowded places;
Some of these explode
Before these could be defused by the establishment.
In the exchange of fire
Between the terrorist and the establishment
A common man
Who does not believe the cause advocated by the terrorist
And also the means adopted by the establishment
Well, he is killed in the crossfire.
So what if he was killed.
Who cares?
A good performance
That lacks soul.