Title: The Silence I Kept Poem by ashok jadhav

(The speaker stands in a dimly lit space, voice trembling with a mix of anger, guilt, and determination. They speak to an unseen audience or perhaps to themselves.)
Monologue:
I watched it happen.
I saw them—cruelty masked as order, power wielded as punishment.
And I… I did nothing.
I stood there, silent, pretending I didn't see.
Pretending it wasn't my responsibility.
But it was. It always was.
Every time I looked away, every time I laughed at the joke, every time I nodded in agreement…
I became a part of it.
Complicit. Guilty. Stained.
And now, I feel it.
The weight of every life I ignored, every voice I silenced…
it presses down on me, crushing the man I thought I was.
How can I face them now? How can I face myself?
The world keeps turning, but I am frozen…
trapped in a prison of my own making.
I wanted to speak. I wanted to act.
But fear… fear held me back.
Fear of losing, fear of shame, fear of standing alone.
And in my fear, I betrayed everything I believed in.
I am done pretending.
I cannot undo the past. I cannot erase the faces, the cries, the injustice I allowed.
But I can rise. I can act, even if it is too late to save myself.
Because silence… silence is the true crime.
And I will not be silent anymore.
(The speaker straightens, fists clenched, eyes burning with resolve, as if ready to confront the injustice they once ignored.)