In Humanity

While following NDTV coverage of the Mumbai attacks, I came across this phrase used by Prannoy Roy and his anchors: "the faces of tragedy". As a consequence, I wrote the following lines, a reflection not just of Mumbai, but of the world we presently live in.

Orphaned by hate
Widowed by spite
Battered by brutality
Scarred for life
We are
The faces of tragedy
Sculpted by the tools of terror.

Stammering with sorrow
Uttering rage
Expressing uncertainty
Manifesting helplessness
We are
The voices of a city
Tempered by the trauma of terror.

Listening in anguish
Watching with disbelief
Waiting in fear
Susceptible to rumour
We are
The conscience of a country
Stricken by the torture of terror.

And, in our voices, on our faces,
In the depths of a conscience
We are
A breed of people
That can only wonder
At the inhumanity of humanity.

Freedom

I can go anywhere I want
And do whatever I feel
Answerable to none
With no bonds to keep.

I can be what I want
Gain all I wish
Liable for nothing
With no accounts to render.

Yes, such is my freedom
That I go where I want...
Do what I feel...
Be what I want...
Gain all I wish...

Within the bounds of
A solitary confinement.