ALONE AND AFRAID OF THE UNKNOWN

The heart beats

On a metallic chest

With zest unmatched

But by Sivamani

They say such comparisons

At the inopportune time

Tsk tsk bad humour

But I say, as there is

Despite the need

No publicity

The joke isn’t lost

In the sea of

Controversies

Yet you find

No solace

T’is a moment of

External tranquility

And of heightened sensitivity

Whence the accelerated rhythm

That thus accompanies

Gives an unexpected

Boost of adrenaline

And as morbid as

The thought maybe

It’s the music of terror

That seems to literally

Wrap a venomous coil

Of dread and horror

Around the body

While the sound

Of the heart’s beat

Grows nearer

So much so that

You feel your heart

Stubbornly lodged

In your throat

And all the self help guides

That had aeons ago told

To keep your cool

Become a faint memory

Of a wise old fool

And gradually

The sound of fear

Drowns out common sense

And drives out

Any notions of

Ethics or morality

It is the trepidation

This unholy anticipation

Of an unpredictable

Reality

Resides within

a fear filled mentality

That sits like a cloud

In the mind

And rusts and rots

The grey clogs

That in the face of all

Eventualities

Are unable to formulate

An articulate response

Other than freezing up

Or shooting away

Faster than a cannon

For this sensation

Of paramount trepidation

Refuses to subside

And rears its ugly head

At every moment

Like a three headed dragon

–           Akanksha Gupta