Murder Poem by Dr PJ Raj Kamal

A thousand
tremblors
rock
the villages
early
during
a daybreak
News
spreads
as if tsunami
waves
invade

Priest
murders
his fiancee
A brazen
desecration
of a love
so divine
Streets
and granges
remain
dumbstruck
As if
the dooms day
has struck
All condemn
the murder
so gruesome
And
folks
in a daze
gaze at each others
grievous face

Women burst
into tears
at the ballad singers
Singing
to the rhythm
of finger cymbals
And
telling the story
so
saddening
at the weekend
market
Anxious children
assemble
And
the ten paise
booklets
of lay
a priceless
possession
of all

As
night falls
Our maidservant
from
the peasant
home
tells my mom
in a voice low
Will wander
her soul
for a wish
unfulfilled
Adorned
as an angel
will she wait
for him
A garland in hand
of jasmine
When
the heavenly
fragrance
of the
devil's tree
blooms
linger on
to entice
in the moonlit
nights

Still,
she adds,
On the prowl
could she be,
thirsty
for his blood
a ghost
most
revengeful
in her plight,
In the gardens
where they
plighted
their troth,
While
the moths
of rebirth swarm,
scary
jackals howl
and the barn owls
hoot
In the new moon
nights