A WISH

I want to write
A poem
A really long one
Not specific...
Just random.
There, see!
You're already
Criticising.
Alright
Let me be specific then.
Like you always want
Me to be-
Specific?
So, how about I write
About my country?
I have written endlessly about it
Before!
Ah! Wait~
Do you think
You're patriotic enough?
Do you have any legal standing
To write about your country?
Yes, but why not?
It is my country,
I was born here
I am growing younger
Or should that be elder?
Alright, let me tell you.
There was never a single
Independence Day
Or Republic Day
When I didn't
Paint a tri-colour
On an one-fourth piece
Of chart paper
And painstakingly
Glued a stick
And tied it
To the rose-bush
For all to see!
Everybody else
Had flags atop their homes,
Fluttering on proud masts,
Which they bought from
The only store that sold khadi!
Gandhiji would have been
So proud!
Yes- you guessed right!
He would have smiled
Seeing politicians
Strut in what he wove with passion!
But will he ever know
Of my countrymen, my brothers,
Who are banished
To a life of nothingness?
And we regale and rejoice
Everyday,
Looking askance at
Crystallised tears
Of mothers, children?
Would he have been happy
To see a Nation
Killing brothers
Gouging out eyes,
Slitting throats and
Burning their homes?
And then laughing in glee?
Alright, I know,
By the look on
Your face
That all this doesn't matter anymore!
Fine. So, what should I write
About?
A love song?
You're saying that?
But.....
For whom?
How can I write
A love song
When my Luit laments
In pain and agony
Everyday!
Of what it had seen
And what it will see!
Last night, remember?
I told you,
I wanted to compose
A poem-
 A lyrical poem!
Something fraught with pain!
And you asked me
To write about love!
But I am so tired of
Writing
About love!?
Love, love, love
As if!
I am reiterating
I want to write about
My people!
So you remember?
The people who were brutally
Murdered
By their friends
For no fault of theirs,
Early one morning,
Remember?
Yes, I want to write
Compose, sing
About their lives,
Their children, the women,
Who now have no future
To call their own!
Of their constant fear,
Even now,
Of dying a thousand
Deaths!
I wish to write this
Really long poem!
See, I know you like this idea too!
You're smiling!
So, that's it!
I will compose
A long poem -
For my people
In Nellie!