I dreamt of bombs last night! by Dr. Santosh Bakaya

 

Image |Edward Eyer

I dreamt of bombs last night! 

People were scurrying for cover, 

cowering with fright. 

What was this world coming to? 

The lovers’ rendezvous 

was usurped by malevolent masked men.

When did this happen and why? 

It triggered a black hole of anxiety within me. Sigh!

I have practiced the art of deception to an incredible degree. 

Going around wearing a mask always - no easy task!

But with the explosion of bombs anew - the mask cracked from side to side. 

Everyone could see my tears! 

Why is there murder, mayhem, and genocide? 

Everyone could see the lines of fear on my face. 

What an absolute disgrace!

Why is there devastation, suppressed hurt, and rampant hate? 

Everyone could hear my muted screams. 

I got up with sleep kinks in my eyes to 

see a grasshopper hopping from plant to plant 

with great aplomb and a butterfly flitting.

Flitting - flitting - flitting! 

Another bomb went off! 

Oh, it was only a balloon - bomb, followed by 

a litany of chuckles. 

A tiny tot had deflated a balloon and was happy at 

this explosion. 

The nervous breakdown that I was about to have had been averted. 

The balance had not tipped over! 

Joyous, I broke into audacious dance moves. Nature tittered, rejoining: 

“Who taught you these dance moves?”

“You 

You 

You!”

I replied, spinning and pirouetting as a robin broke into song. 

A tiny boy headed towards a whimpering pup and offered it a bowl of hot milk. 

I could glimpse a smile of gratitude on the pup’s face 

as it slurped up the white treasure. 

© Dr Santosh Bakaya 

Santosh Bakaya

Internationally acclaimed for her poetic biography of Mahatma Gandhi, Ballad of Bapu, Dr Santosh Bakaya is an academic, poet, novelist, essayist, creative writing mentor, and TEDx speaker with more than thirty well-received books to her credit. She writes a weekly column, Morning Meanderings in Learning and Creativity.com, and her TEDx talk on The Myth of Writer’s Block is very popular in creative writing circles. 

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