Title: The Weight Of A World Poem by ashok jadhav

(The speaker stands alone, voice rising and falling with a mix of anger, despair, and urgency. They speak as if addressing society itself—or the audience as a mirror.)
Monologue:
Do you see it?
Do you see what they have done?
The streets are full of silence, yet the cries are everywhere.
The powerful sit in their towers, untouchable, untamed,
while the rest of us… the rest of us bleed in shadows.
And we… we do nothing.
We nod. We look away.
We tell ourselves it's not our problem, that someone else will fix it.
But the rot spreads, doesn't it?
And the day comes when the rot is everywhere,
and there is no one left to fix it,
because we all stood by.
I am tired of standing by.
I am tired of the lies, the hypocrisy, the injustice wrapped in civility.
They call it order. They call it progress.
But I see the truth.
Progress for the few. Oppression for the many.
And I—what am I?
Silent? Complicit? Afraid?
I should speak. I should rise.
But what will it cost?
My safety? My reputation? My life?
And yet… if I do not speak…
then I am as guilty as those who wield power without conscience.
I am not blind. I am not deaf.
And I will not be silent forever.
If the world will not wake,
then I will scream.
If justice will not come,
then I will demand it.
Because the day I stop caring…
that is the day the world dies completely.
(The speaker stands tall, eyes blazing, voice ringing with conviction and urgency, ready to challenge the complacency around them.)