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Light is sorrow



Don’t watch the news anymore, my son,
It’s better to live in the darkness of ignorance.
Why should you pollute your mind
with all those
rapes and frauds,
assaults and lynching,
lies and deceit?

Remember when you were a little boy
you insisted on joining me
for the morning walk
and I warned you of the dangers that
lurked behind the morning’s grey light?
You insisted on joining me
and you were shocked
by the sight of the bare body
of an assaulted girl
that lay on the roadside.
I quoted Akkitham* to you:
“Light is sorrow, son,
Darkness is solace.”

We are a nation of killers and rapists, son,
Our leaders are vampires who suck our blood
In the name of gods and totems,
Our priests are fake, my son,
The godmen are devil’s men,
Our bishops are windbags,
We are a nation of frauds.

Our gods died long ago
Laughing at the tragicomedy
We enact in their name.

Light is sorrow, my son.

* Akkitham is a Malayalam poet and the lines in quotation marks belong to his poem titled ‘Hell’.


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