Demons of the Night – Delhi Poetry Slam

Demons of the Night

By Aditi Patalia

Caged by our own inner soul,
We are imprisoned with insecurities, fears of our own.
In the silent battle, our essence is so scarred,
Piece by piece, the struggle leaves us bruised and barred.

With each step away, slowly and gradually we fade, 
With the whispers of vanishing ourselves, delicately, the fragments of our core we shed.
Desperate to dispel shadows, and seeking a guiding spark,
We've strayed on paths uncharted, lost in the dark.

Once perceived as a whole, now in solitude we reside,
Somewhere, we distance ourselves with the invisible walls that now divide.
From staying far and being connected to staying close with hearts apart, 
A cherished bond of once, vanished and doused.

We have learned to hide,
Ignore, cover, mask, lie until anyone realizes,
building up a perfect façade where all our unwanted selves are disguised.
Burying our emotions and feelings inside,
Leading to a double life.

With just a plain, simple, serene smile, we say ‘I’m fine’ under sugarcoated lies.
Concealing our tears, our spirits slowly subside.
On the surface, everything seems just fine, but underneath it all, it’s all getting paralyzed.
The venom of our thoughts spreading like a cancer into the veins.

A soul is yearning to break free from the noise and chaos inside our brains,
Crying and craving for help to come along.
A hand to hold or a shoulder to cry on,
A plea for a patient ear who listens to the stories that are yet untold.

But as we long to let it all out and flow,
Our hearts grow numb,
And don’t feel anything anymore,
We have turned to a stone that is so tired of pretending anymore.

The fire within us, once, was so fierce and bright.
Now extinguished, no longer ignites the night.
With each passing day, our existence and identity are obscured and torn.
Engulfed by our own demons, lost and forlorn.


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