Tainted with Love by Ananya S Guha

Whither the dead

ha’ penny thoughts

the tortoise and the hare

run, in this impending fun

..

Brown soldiers black

black, brown

their shirts are shrivelled

into guns they hold

..

Terrorists come and go

the common man might

know, who the soldier

who the terrorist

the police arrive to gun

both

it is mayhem

and the gaping wound

that tells all the sorrow.

..
At crack of dawn

a son is born

father murdered

mother prepares

three coffins

for father, son and

mother.

..

I say my prayers quietly

what do soldiers want?

where is the brave war

and what are suicide squads?

the rose buds faint in red

tulips open into gaping wound

my praying beads are tainted

with love.