ANIL KUMAR PANDA

 

 

Hard Times

 

Heart weighs heavy

 

Moment after moment

 

As the sky turns red from

 

Reflection of blood-stained water

 

 

 

The hills feel suffocated

 

With dark clouds floating like

 

Carcasses in seas thrown from ships

 

 

 

Hands of the clock

 

Weep memories of past years

 

When it used to tick in harmony

 

With children’s careless laughter

 

Ridden With Wars

 

Leaves have turned gray

 

In spring as the wind from

 

The east brings fire of war

 

 

 

Grasses no more give shelters

 

To worms of various kinds as its

 

Softness is trodden by heavy boots

 

 

 

Sun struggles to bring back

 

Serenity to the countryside but

 

Hides being afraid of sounds of

 

Men dying in battlefields, bleeding.

 

 

 

Cursed lovers no more

 

Meet under moonlit night;

 

Sleep under blankets of fear

 

As walls shiver in gunfire.

 

ANIL KUMAR PANDA