Maggots

By Indratapa Routh

Why was I sent so broken?

Why was I sent so cursed?

Not long before they thrash my skull open

And free the worms trapped inside.

I can feel it, right in my bones

See it, crystal, in my mind's eye

A human head cracked into two

Hosts of maggots crawling out.

Finally free. My family…

Mother's radiant smiling face

Into the distance it fades and fades.

My lifeless gaze bores fruitless holes

Up onto the blue, cotton studded stretch.

Oh how the vultures circle above!

Oh the terror they'd evoke if I could still feel!

Oh how the worms were cramped up in me

No business replacing my supposed brain

Yet they did, or so they all say—

I had potential. A fallen soldier.

But was I ever equipped to fight?

A million dreams of growth, love, life

Stare at me with a mocking smile

Had almost achieved. Close, but not quite.

So I lie sprawled flat between heaven and hell

Skull cracked open, worms pouring from inside.

By Indratapa Routh