ANTARA BANERJEE

ANTARA

BANERJEE

DEVIL

Give me not

all this love,

shelter me not

under your wing,

show me not

the way to your heart,

I am but

a wicked thing.

I rise from the cinders

of hell,

I spare not

my own abode.

Heaven may save

those poor souls,

trying to flee

my diabolic code.

'Ere I walk

into the heaven

seeking audience

of the lord

But lo and behold!

He crumbles down!

Bring the shaman

exorcise the God!!

STRANGE TIMES

These are strange times indeed!

It's bizarre to be told that

things we clearly see, hear and feel,

are really not 'real'!

Rather the stories fed to us;

those,

that our minds refuse to accept

are the 'truth'...

and so they have always been!

Beware! This is not Metaphysics,

not a parallel universe

to float around!

Perhaps they want us to believe so!

We shall not accept their ideas

that defy natural justice;

Reject their convoluted facts

that aspire to

overturn the legitimate with impunity!

How they have succeeded in

tearing us apart,

made us believe,

that humankind is really not kind!

That we and they can never be friends!

No! We cannot

let this consume us!

This is not a virtual world,

where we can kick and kill people around

with no repercussions.

We shall not call doomsday upon ourselves

at their behest!

Let them not make us believe

that this is the only way!

That this is what

the Gods decreed!

So let us dig our feet

firmly into the ground.

Let us not leave our own soil

our own motherland!

Let us not float around

in conjured fantasy

and reclaim the truth,

that our senses perceive,

our minds accept.

Let Morality and Compassion

be enthroned again,

Let us let down

the vicious Gods!

Let us redeem our intellect and humanity

and become Human again!

TAKEN

You defiled

my God,

when you bathed him

in blood.

Put commandments

in his mouth

that he never decreed.

I adored him

until you turned him

into stone,

Unfeeling, brutish,

Stone!

You took away

my religion,

when you sowed

the sapling of faith,

deep into

the womb of hatred.

The arrows of

malignant violence,

pitched from

your bigoted heaven

sprouted demons,

and ravaged my land!

You corrupted

my people,

blinding their eyes;

giving them a God

of dubious intent.

Handed them spears,

muted their

song of peace,

Now, they beat

ear-shattering drums

of a needless war..

You shamed

humanity

When you let

women and children

be ravished and brutalized.

Drove people

out of their own land

Broke the code

of human conduct

when you raised criminals

to haloed thrones.

You bloodied

your own hands

with innocent blood!

To you,

The murderers of my country!

I send a curse!

Let my country be exorcised

of these malignant demons...

Our time is fast afoot...

Your time is

done!

ANTARA BANERJEE

ANTARA BANERJEE is best known for her two books, 'The Goddess in Flesh' and 'To be a Woman'. Recipient of the prestigious Sanmarg Aparajita Award 2019 as a Young Achiever for her contribution in the field of literature, she is Masters in Image and Communication from Goldsmiths College, London and a graduate from the Presidency College of Kolkata. Apart from being a novelist, she is also a poet in three languages. She writes verses in English, Bangla and Hindi. In a language that is marked by boldness and passion at the same time, she endeavours to transport her readers to a world that can only be described in words, a world that is shrouded in charming intrigue. Because, words can evoke imagination, that is constrained by nothing!