THE COMMON GROUND

(LINE OF NO RETURN)

BENOY.P.J

Are we to go about things

As if nothing has happened over the last two centuries

As if one could be enthusiastic about the same old ideals

Raise the same slogans and the same old guns to salute each other.

But in between

Someone has passed away,

Some one was born.

Every face that prompted that game

Returning as ghosts that haunt the edifices of the past

Mass graves and mildew

Masturbatory fantasies

Of progressives conservatives and liberals

Klansmen, vampires and holy bums.

If injustice could thrive on everyday contempt

Eating into dark bodies like slow ice

Disabling love

And promoting self hate

Where indeed can there be common ground

Other than on the ground

Or under it,

Where in the shadows

Un-televised

Brothers seek brothers

And sisters, sisters.

Language is the only past that one accepts

And even then only to destroy it and create anew,

Myths are without charm

Since heaven had closed its doors

And slipped its keys

Into the hands of snake-charmers.

And petrified

Men fall on the street

Reeking of liquor

And abandoned

Without care.

If you call me thankless,

I will like to remind you that there is nothing to thank you for

Nothing left of pleasure

In this life,

Which had withered

Before it could ever be born.