The river welcomes everyone,
It embraces the mother who lost her son,
It sobs with the lover who lost his innocence,
It forgives the brother who wasn’t loyal,
It freezes with the daughter, who is gazing at the pyre.
It accepts the carcasses and the roses,
Pursued by all,
It surrenders to none,
It washes your sins and deposits them in the ocean.
It shoulders palaces,
It shoulders prisons,
It moves through the stars,
It shelters demons,
It dances with the trees,
It sees through your fallacies,
Climate change and river burns,
Yet, it holds no vengeance,
Unwearied by these tormentors,
It flows into the sun.
A box of houses creeps close to its bank,
And, hums a lullaby to the dying river,
The river whispers, listen!
It shines, see!
It shivers at night but cannot speak,
It mourns in its deepest solitary,
Yet it claims nothing,
These veins of the earth,
With blood running above,
Forever quenches your ravenous thirst.
Nikhil Kumar completed his master’s in Law and Development from Azim Premji University in 2020. He is an aspiring satirist and poet.
Featured image credit: Pixabay