Poetry - An Ode to the Times

 

*An ode to the times*

 

We live in a world of lies

The greater the better

We identify with those lies 

To fight each other 

 

Whoever wins puts a stamp on the lie 

It becomes the truth

Other lies vie for attention

And the fight goes on

 

Within each one of us

The truth remains silent

Imagining how things would be

If it was allowed to speak

 

The lies define our lives 

The lies feed our tummies

The lies shape our dreams

The lies eat into our core

The truth suffers 

It cannot speak

 

When will the lies recede?

When will the fight stop?

When will we be friends again?

To bask in the truth and light?

 

The darkness beckons

It is where the lies lead

When the charm ends

And we find the prison walls

Groping in the dark

We curse our fate

 

The slopy path is easy to traverse 

To roll on requires no effort

We laugh as we fall unimpeded 

The hurt is unimaginable when we land

 

There is no one to comfort

Enemies abound 

Our pain is mocked 

Our tears do not dry

 

We remember the truth 

We remember those that we have mocked 

The words that we ignored 

 

The price we pay is heavy 

The world suffers for the sins of a few

Because we condoned 

As life was easy 

Pleasures we sought 

Forgot the dues of those that served

The sorrows of those that suffered 

 

The truth is all we have 

It dwells within us all

It tries to warn

It seeks to check

It falls but does not break

 

Because it has to rise again 

To serve those who once lied 

Chastened now they need support 

The truth suffers but rises again

 

The new dawn begins 

The new cycle 

The truth is the witness 

It seeks no reward 

It has nothing to gain or lose

It lights the world

Sees both the good and bad

 

Sometimes it finds a voice, sometimes mute 

But listen it does 

Never blind, eyes do not shut 

It is the mother of all

The children forget 

The mother is ever awake

 

The cycles begin

The cycles end

The future is now

The past is now 

The illusion is great

The traveler is asleep 

Who will rise 

When God himself sleeps?

 

It is the darkest before dawn

Into that darkness we walk

Unmindful of what lies beyond 

With the lies that we love 

With the pleasures that bind 

 

A dawn there will be 

The sun will shine again 

As the world begins anew

The wounds will heal with time 

There will be less of us to hurt 

There will be less of us to hurt.

 

Jagannath Chatterjee