Chaitanya Huprikar
goodbye old friend
tumbled mass of faded leather
ingrown inbred into ashen skin
of a cold pallid lazy boy
ensnaring rainbows in a helical maze
crafty carlos crafted for me
a precious fragile crystal flute
my don Juan of shimmering skin
goodbye old friend
enslaved in glorious rigor and routine
of junk amoled programming
caffeine and nicotine
vaporous notes bear thrill of trance
infuse in discordant, wilted lungs
symphonies of an ancient dance
hymns of rain in aztec tongues
goodbye old friend
upholstered in your despondent shroud
each sound a dread a burden each step
my skin my cage
slashing through dark sombre cloaks
lead for feathers, threads of leather
i weave a mantle for my warrior head
and emerge now wings outstretched
on lacerated shackles i look down once
, hoping like always to never return
This work has been published in Beetle Magazine's July 2020 Issue. Click here to read the magazine.
Illustration by Dhanashree Pimputkar