Soliloquy

They took you apart piece by piece broke you down
into a mere monolith which had ceased existing
they tore at you relentlessly giving way to freedom
of method to modern-day scientists who never understood

the power you held and they also questioned your
deepest morals just as they wondered about the gun
that was ensconced between your exacting thighs
they gunned you down without vengeance or hatred

and asked for forgiveness in a tone that was suggesting
something else entirely and yet you stood firm in that
tricolour benarasi that we had become so familiar with
their voices were the loudest when you took your deepest fall

they broke your body but they could not touch your spirit
their words cut like knives inside that human body of yours
which had borne another human body less than a year ago
they tortured that image of yours hurting quivering shaking

in terrifying agony but they did not step forward to lend a helping hand
they worshipped that picture of you they projected that your
mistake was yours alone and nothing could be made of the
man behind the wheel in the truck and yet you were unshaken

they tore you at the seams wrecking pieces of your heart
and tossing them out of the window once they were done
they struck you repeatedly until you could take it no more
they waited for the day when you would give up but it never came

they sacrificed you at the altar hoping and praying
that you would sell your soul to the devil in exchange
for something much more innocuous and much more tangible
and yet your steely resolve showed no sign of wearing out

they burnt the bridges you had built and put up walls instead
they took the hands you had stretched and crossed fences
at night while they did what they knew best
while you smiled and forgave them yet again

they hacked your lungs out while trying to make a suggestion
that could only be understood by them and their friends
your equanimity in both victory and defeat was interpreted
as you showing vulnerability in the right man’s world

they tormented you with cages they had made for animals
to them you had become the symbol of everything
that was wrong with this country yet you were smiling
when I walked past the agitation and madness in Ranigunj

there was no one else in sight but thousands of them
who had given up their day-to-day lives trying to make
an example out of you to them you had become the symbol
of pointless resistance and surrender but I disagreed

they tore at your insides and kept digging till they found your core
having silenced all voices of dissent and opposition
they finally took a sigh of relief but just as we were crying out
in hushed tones regarding the death of democracy

they were taking out placards banners and flash mobs
heralding the arrival of a brave new world a world where
nonconformity meant being in the wrong and where murmurs
of discord invited late-night house calls by burly men in uniform

sometimes I wish I could glance inside their brains
and ask them what they think of when they drag out their daggers
just as they’re about to destroy something beautiful
but your precedent sets me back and pegs my excitement

there is no doubt that the newspapers will carry out
more than half a page of this mad fury which has descended
upon the city of pearls to them you will become a mere statistic
come to think of it Stalin wasn’t far from their minds either

what was even more hurtful was the way they stripped you bare
and dug into the abysses of your soul and proclaimed unnatural
things and yet your unwavering eyes stood firm in the dusk
that had descended upon this country of majorities

I couldn’t help but gape in awe at their newly found confidence
which forced them to say that you had been one of theirs
and that your loss had to be shared by every passing pedestrian
even by those who did not know your name

they lashed at your eyelids and tore them asunder
they mistook that voice of courage to be one not lacking fear
their speeches blaring out of the loudspeakers slurred even more
just as I walked past in silent obeisance