A Broken World

How can I write about hope in a world
Where the streets reek of blood
Where screams remain unheard
Where morals are murdered
By the knives of the virtuous

How can I feel safe
When violence runs freely on the streets
When justice is blind to atrocity
And no garment is modest enough
To protect me from eyes that leer disgustingly at my body?

How can I go about my day in peace
When the world burns so hauntingly
Leaving behind ashes of shattered hopes and dreams,
To be buried under the weight of systemic inequalities
That have marked the path of history?

How can I believe in democracy
When laathis accompany demands of accountability?
How can I envision peace
When the visions of the masses are tainted by smoked ideologies?

How can I ever be happy
When my feed switches endlessly
From starving children
To influencers promoting cafes in Church Street?

A dissonance painted on my screen
I scroll and scroll to escape my shame
What is hell if not apathy towards another being?
What is hell if not becoming numb and ignoring reality?

Hate rules so fervently
Dividing us based on body or religion or nationality
Skin colour or caste or sexuality
Tearing apart all ties of solidarity

Divided into boxes of identities,
We forget our humanity
Where are we going as a society?
Why are we trading empathy for dopamine?

We argue endlessly, posting stories upon stories
Losing ourselves in the bubbles of the FYP
That trick us all into a false sense of superiority

We long to be heard but refuse to listen
It's hard to find hope in a world so broken by algorithms
It's hard to find hope in a world running on binary divisions

But perhaps, one day
We'll step out of the boundaries we've made
And let compassion lead the way
Perhaps, one day,
We'll open our ears and listen with care

Perhaps one day,
We'll look at the broken world
And step forth with hands eager to repair
Perhaps, one day, we'll come together despite our pain
And that day, hope will birth again