Reeti Ghosh
The gentle hands,
The brush of lips,
The arms that soothe,
Grazing fingertips.
A mother putting
Her child to sleep,
Close to her chest,
Endless hours of peace.
The fight with a sibling,
The bite, the burn,
That sting of discomfort
Washed away by a frown of concern.
The hug of a friend,
The soul of twins,
Of love and trust
And in betweens.
The hello handshake,
The kiss goodbye,
The promise to never
Leave one’s side.
It all comes down
To this endless web
Of the millions and millions
Of touches we trade.
And then there is that endless night
Of comforting lies and alluring deception,
The rush of the jump
Into endless temptation.
He falls, she falls, we all fall down
A dark, dark hole to a haunted town.
Bodiless hands in unknown crowds,
That wrap her up in a ghastly shroud.
The light fades, the warmth disappears,
Give way to the pain of needles and spears,
That nail her heart, her soul, her being;
A gruesome corpse of a reigning queen.
Or leave her just a shell of fright
And skin and bones; no soul inside.
No place to hide, to live, to stay,
When the protector chases a prey.
Broken faith, like shattered glass,
Oaths buried in the nasty rush.
Go on then and test her might,
A Broken Princess awaits no knight.
Alone she fights to reap your crimes,
On her own for the rest of time.
When the sun goes down she’ll heal herself,
Reject the help of someone else,
She craves and yet she runs from touch,
The descendant and destroyer of trust.