Jail Poem by RAVIKIRAN ARAKKAL

Bars holding from the ouside
World, no trees, houses or streets,
With twenty of the condemned
Ones, he was put in a room,
With open lavotory, from where
They took bath, washed the only
Cloth used below the waist,
Drinking the same water,
Sometimes joking, telling
Their own tales of home,
And offences committed
By them, thrown a single
Newspaper shared only for
A few hours, sleeping on a mat,
He lived a life of confinement
Crying at the pangs of friends
Of the cell, he lived in
Eating only a portion of food
So tasteless and with wheat balls,
Getting used to the crimanals,
One trying a stamping dance
On the face like a madman,
Surrounded by howls of inmates
From the nearby cells,
He laid listless in the cell.