-- Stunned Me

It was dull green under the weather, foliage of a tall weeping Ashoka. All day the sun had beaten down mercilessly At night, under the shimmering shade of stars somebody left a body of a child wrapped in a red rag at the foot of the giant, where the roots were jutting out from earth like a basket to receive a birthday present. A gift from a veiled shame. Shutting out the breath, a purple death by asphyxiation A pink doll: mist draped in dew and flower. Death was no stranger among the saints and beasts. Stone to stone, stunned me. I was discovering the life. SATISH VERMA