To My Dearest Friend

Could I act like a jerk,
Beyond doubt—whatever it takes in this world;
And act and pretend
You are the bravest parent, you gave birth to the sweetest child
You own the biggest mansion in the world
Till eighty, you will have Madonna’s skin so wrinkle-free
You belong to the oldest and advanced society
A little exaggeration never hurts and who cares
You were the inventor of Ras Lila; you invented Krishna as well
You were created first; and in the future, you will end the last

But there’s a favour—I’d call it a request;
For I cannot pretend or believe
Your patriots are kicking my ass and that it is fine
I don’t have to love your country by force, do I?
I suffocate not to laugh at your hopelessness
Are you waiting for the world to end and get rid of your misery?
Your pathetic doctrine of rejecting the fake/godly considerations
When you can kill me because I don’t look like you

I can convince you have the most precious life
Pretend I didn’t see beyond your airplane-crew-inspired smile
Act as if I care for your existence
For that matter, leave the interestingly flavourless favour

I can still act as if I’m interested
in what you buy from Korea and America
in how much your children are growing up like you

Yet I cannot go forward, how you go about as if nothing matters
As if life carries a price tag
Albeit it does in our town, it does with lots of insanity as freebies
As if everything is okay
When you and I, we know we live in a gutter full of human wastes
No more can I act like a jerk, for now, I’m already more than that
No more, when we are drowned in this ocean of scum so normal
I cannot pretend I don’t see that the masters are indulging in daylight robbery
That I don’t see the police is acting like a greedy, malnourished dog
But not that the country rhymes with army and all things shitty
And revolution with extortion, so does motherland with wasteland,
Do not love and happiness, though, with our time and our dreams.
—.

 ..................................................................
taking a stand
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