–Karanika Kashyap
Tiptoed down the stairway
The night was murky, a cursed moonless one.
The chill air brought a clank from close by
But I disdained to wince.
Sounds at midnight could no longer affright me.
It’s about time, I wondered.
I knew ’twas about time.
I pulled the knife out from under my robe.
How long has it been there?
Perhaps since I decided to end it all,
To end my star-crossed life.
I walk to the mirror, the canvas where they paint beauty.
One last look at my vile face.
Hoped that it’d look dainty at this final moment.
It did not.
What I saw standing was a corpse.
My corpse. I knew then, death’s been my guest long back.
I yet breathed, but I did not live.
So how do you kill a corpse?
I tiptoed back up the stairway.
Laid down on the rug,
slumber didn’t take long to call on.
This corpse would wake up again the next dawn.
Supremely talented young poet Karanika’s few more works are included in “Wissenmonk Anthology 2020: A new path to enlightenment”(available on Amazon). Her poetry is always adorned with a deep sense of life, and carefully selected enthralling words.