Paradox

By Mahathy Mohan

A humourless chuckle left chapped lips,

Words pulverized by the guilt heavy on his tongue,

Remorse weighing down on his aching heart,

Feline eyes a dimming ember of regret,

Shame filled lungs constricting his throat,

Shallow breaths,

An unconscious way of penitence.

Rueful hues colouring his pale skin,

Inexorable disgrace ceaselessly clawing at the odious fleece of his frayed being.

A confession left unsaid,

Yet the whisper of his deception hung in the air.

Winter frost stinging the hollow shell of a tattered teen.

What felt like retribution for his sins,

Was merely restoration of equilibrium.

Nature's modus operandi,

Inescapable karma.

Sheets of white,

Yet all he saw was red.

He stood on a pool of blood,

But his hands were clean.

Did spotless fingers erase the roguish tongues' deeds?

A thought his growing conscience would never let him believe.

Purposeful strides by reluctant feet.

He made his way past broken birches,

Finally facing the blood altar,

As streaks of red trickled down wounds he caused.

Yet he was greeted with a gentle smile for they knew not,

Of his sins that lead to their loss.

Unbeknownst to the pistol he held and the 9mm of lead he buried in their trust.

5 bullets gone,

Embedded in their soul.

And the 6th bullet aimed for fire,

The truth.

The resounding ringing of a gunshot,

A sour taste in their mouth,

Left by the poison of brazen candour.

What was to liberate,

Only did further devastate.

Band aid on a bullet hole,

Tape on cracked glass.

Lipstick on a pig,

New saddle on a dead horse.

Honesty about dishonesty.

The echo of a scoff of disbelief,

At the icy chills of a harrowing revelation.

The stench of betrayal invaded all senses,

As sharp features twisted in incredulous anguish.

He hastily averted this gaze from the sight of red rimmed eyes brimming with pearls of sorrow.

Now he's spilt both blood and tears.

Silently mumbled prayers into the moonlit midnight,

An unyielding yearning for absolution,

His hunched figure retreats into the bleak horizon.

Jade orbs glinting with bitter amusement,

As his lies were readily believed,

While his truths were not.

By Mahathy Mohan