Innocence Poem by Shankaran Kutty

In the million watts that radiated
When he broke into a smile
On seeing his mother return home
He hadn’t seen her for a while
In those eyelids that in joy, fluttered
In the dimple that formed on his cheek
In those tiny hands, that his mother’s breast
To feed, did reach out and seek
In that tiny toothless mouth that opened
Making sounds as if to speak
And the gleam that filled his lotus eyes
When she gave a peck on his cheek
In that little child I saw the presence of the Lord
In him I saw innocence.

Now that child has grown, he is a man
Yet, in his eyes I see not the glimmer of love
Anger, violence and fits of rage
As beads of sweat he wipes off his brow
Hatred in the name of colour and creed
Hatred in the name of the Lord
He spares no love for a fellow being
He lives and dies by the sword
Arms that were raised for a mother’s feel
Are today being raised to kill
Those lips now bays for another’s blood
Stop another from living his free will
In you, O Man, I see not the Lord but the devil
In you, the death of innocence.