The Serial Killer(s)

She couldn’t move much but felt almost every heart beat around her. She didn’t have anyone to talk to and was all alone in a dark place unable to see anything at all. All she could hear was some horrifying talks. She was scared but there was no one to comfort her. She wondered what harm she could possibly do to people who wanted to end her. She lay there gloomy and wondering if she will ever see the light of the day. She was barely fed and grew weaker by days.

Very often she could hear some noise unable to make anything out of it. Like a helpless being, she just waited for the moment. She had no to call for help, for no one but only the killers knew about her existence. She was just an unknown soul with no place to hide and run and didn’t understand why she was in the captivity of those merciless serial killers. And one fine day, suddenly everything around her began to heat up. And even before she realized, she was reduced to a piece of medical waste. One of the killers showed some superficial remorse in the camouflage of maternal emotions but deep down both had a sigh of relief.

And the world didn’t even miss a soul. Or, did it?

What if ?

I walked on the dusty road

Looking for something we all had lost

The land lay barren, the birds dead

There was a silence in those screeching sounds

The leaves, devoid of its nectar

The homes appeared all ransacked

And the only sound to be heard

Was that of the sobbing soul

There lay a heap of horror

And a pile of ashes turned cold

All they wanted was to live, smile and laugh

But the remains were burnt bones and dried blood

Suddenly I saw the past running

This time not on a 70 mm screen

Certainly, man was the strongest

Yet weak enough to annihilate the rest

I was taken aback by a huge noise

Happily finding it to be just a dream

And then I mused on the remnants

What if the DREAM comes true?

And, what if the DREAMS come true?

---Sriram

Addicted...

In life we all have some ambition

Some reach, while others fail in the mission

And amongst all the confusion and complication

Rarely do we realize our unseen addiction.

Some smoke while others drink

Washing out their worries in the sink

Some do it for the calm and peace

Others simply to hide the lost piece

What if someone is addicted to happiness

No one shall ever call it a mess

But for those hooked to their grieves

Life seems to be stuck in briefs

When choice is among the darker lanes

The dim flickering light of hope goes in vain

It aint always about rights and the wrongs, coz

Sometimes addiction is the only way out for the darkness

It isn’t just about being some goose

As we swing through grandiose to otiose

For grief could be camouflage to the light unseen

Like smile often is, a cloak to the darkness within

---Sriram

A Dope... not just hope

No matter how far you are

Or, how long it has been

You never forget what it felt like

To have smiled and shared deep within

It didn’t matter and it never could

If she was a fairy tale or a devious angel

Only if, it were possible, I certain would

Knowing the end is certainly not well

I tried to run far away from me

But destiny just took twists and turns

Only to put me where it all began

And ended with ashes after the burns

May be the phoenix was lucky

For sometimes even the ashes could burn

And while we profess an end only to give hope

Eternally burning ash might just be the "dope"

---Sriram

The Dark Light

I look up to the highs of the dusky sky

And down to the depths of the shimmering sea

Perplexed I am, standing at the crossroads

To choose between the heights and depths

One takes me to the glory unparalleled

The other in the world of unknown darkness with a ray of lighted hopes

And the seemingly simple choice proves to be the one

Most difficult and impossible with all the stakes

I feel so secured in the darkness not being able to see the truth

Accustomed to the grief, I find comfort with the melancholy

With no fears to fall down any deeper

Sometimes darkness seems to be the only light...

---Sriram

Hopes and Tears

While he lay still, wide awake

And kept thinking for the old times’ sake;

he floated in his own world of beauty

When the alarm gave a call of duty

While the days are so bright with a song

The nights are dark and long

Like a circle without a start or an end

he found himself back to where it all begun

As the days come closer and the moment near

He is gripped with uncertainty and a deep fear

Disappointment and dejection is what it holds for him

Yet, it gives a comfort to him and his whims

With every sunrise he lived up with new hopes

No matter what, he knew, who he loved

But, days turned into months into years

The only remains left were his dried up tears

---Sriram

Liberated in the veil

She lay still in a veil

While the porch hung from the creaking branches

And as the clouds camouflaged the crescent

I could hear nothing but a slow wail

The noise of dry leaves being crushed

Penetrated the dead silence of the night

Scared I was, and frozen to death

If only, someone could have see the plight

Dead, she was long back

They only stopped the heartbeat

Enslaved, she always was

Death, only liberated her...

---Sriram

Naked and Bare

A lonely kid sat alone in the dark

His forehead bleeding with a mark

Across the street was something, so hollow

He figured it out to be just a shadow.

It was on the other side of a window,

The figures seemed to be in a mellow

and as they danced and swayed

The kid simply shivered and withered

He wondered if it was the dark,

or, was it the blood so cold

While the shadows grew red in the heat of passion,

that little heart stopped its action

Next morning he is picked up by the garbage van

also carrying the wastes of the passion,

While a few leer and drank beer,

The lives of rest lay naked and bare

---Sriram

Once I am dead...

As I listened to some old tracks lonely
The virulence of gloom shrouded me
Unaware, unknown and incognizant of the coming melancholy
I began to wonder, question and excogitate

What if I never wake up tomorrow?
What if the sunset today marks the end to yet another life?
What if today is the last time I could talk to my family, friends?
What if I never get to see that face which gave meaning to my life?

And then a sudden jolt brought me back
Making me ponder and reassure if I was sane anymore
While I did combat with those inevitable thoughts,
I couldn’t help but surrender to my unruly mind

Am I afraid of death? Yes, I am... who is not
But the question is why am I afraid of death?
Would it really bring the world of someone to a stop?
And how would people remember me, if at all they do?

There are answers to each of them hidden in our life
But do I really wish to know any of it.
It might make me happy, might as well gloomy
I just do not know.

My mother would cry for me for I am the only child; good or bad
My dad would mourn for me for I am the light; bright or dull
My friends may miss me for reasons even I do not know
Only for all of it to fade away into the memory lanes

Here I sit clueless with a question that haunts me every single moment
For I desperately pray, I do not scathe hearts of people I care
I wish i knew how would I like to be remembered and rated?
As a son, a brother, a friend, a partner and an individual...
---Sriram