The Witness

By Shreeyash Bahuguna

I’ve seen the shores meeting the ocean waves.

how the salts of seas pave the rocks into caves,

I’ve seen the sun ashed into nights and how from those ashes the new dawn rises.

I was the witness when the moon was carved.

and how after every week it is halved,

i’ve seen it all, from the first letters in love,

to the last words in the wars,

I’ve seen the fake laughs in the feasts to the expressionless mourns.

The mouths that were made for boons, I’ve seen them curse, and “i” alone is the witness.

The way of being a human, I believe, is the blessing of witnessing the aloneness.

to see that we all can be close, yet in the closeness we will always be alone.

Alone is all we choose to be. 

But how timid are our joys of aloneness?

How often do you see the golden leaves fall? 

How often do you enjoy the first kiss of the drizzling rain? 

How often amidst the noise do we listen to the hustling of the honeybees?

How often do we see the clouds creep through the mountain trees? 

Be the witness all alone cause “I” is all we have for now.

I have seen the raven fly the heavens.

I have witnessed extinctions, the great five.

i have seen Icarus melt; I saw Bruno burned. 

And all along I alone was the witness. 

cause a witness is all i am to this universe . 

By Shreeyash Bahuguna