Choices

 

 

 

Not far from the

dog-eat-dog world

of corporations built in the skies

above the clouds- where

we thought heaven would be,

it’s an eye for an eye

in a never ending war.

A figure stands in the streets

Not a boy,

but not quite a man.

He shows his colors

with pride

from head to toe.

Hatred, vengeance and poverty

is how he is choosing

his life to be.

Red or blue,

it makes no difference.

The next day

the rain has washed away

the history of the

red, blood-stained pavement.

On the other side of the globe,

there's a woman

on her wedding day

carefully wrapped

from head to toe

in a red silk sari

worn by her mother

twenty years ago.

Beside her sits a stranger

but it makes no difference

who he might be

either way

she will learn to love him

with time.

She is reminded

every day

as her reflection stares back at her,

and her forehead is adorned

by the sacred red bhindi,

telling her that this is exactly

how her life

was meant to be.