Nothing Serious?

By Gunjan Satish Ladda

they murdered a man today- And I? I stayed quietIn the chaos of what's wrong, what's right...They drove the blade in,Day after day, night after night,Until his shattered body dangled A noose pulling too tight.Oh, I won't deny it-He was marked by fateCursed in every possible way They said his heart was worn on his sleeve,Clutching knives that made him grieve.How foolish, how blind he'd been,To believe he could give the love he'd never seen.Mocked and broken,He stood aloneTarget for their vicious toneMen don’t cry. Men don’t plead.That’s what he was told, that’s all he came to believeHe used to laugh,A crackling sound whenever I asked, "Is anything wrong?""Nothing’s too serious, nothing’s too wrong.""You know I’m strong, I’ll carry on."A thought  haunts me,My heart still aches, why didn’t I ever say,"But to suppress, to break...""That's not what it means to be brave, anyway."I was always too silent, too quiet. You Must have wondered If I ever loved you. I did. I did. I do I stayed silent.But inside, I screamed—For the boy I knew,For the man you became.In the stillness, I betrayed you,Wishing I could have stood up,Said something, anything—But the words never found their way.They took your light,And I let them,Because I was too afraidTo challenge their truths.To challenge the lieThat told you to swallow your pain,To hide your heart,And call it strength.But the truth is,They never saw you—The way I saw you,A fragile soul,Not weak, but worn.

By Gunjan Satish Ladda