The look of strangers is the
look of fear being transferred
from them to me
from me to them
It’s the battle of the eyes
to test each other’s supremacy
in a whisker of a moment
and then you forget
Paranoia looks upon your shoulder
Your mind turns to glimpse on the periphery
The evil in you confirms the evil in others
just an assumption that is as strong as your intuition
Your feet pace away and the stranger’s towards you
till your paths turn away and your destination arrives
and then you forget
You open the newspaper and it reads
a stranger murdered by a stranger that begun
by the look in each other’s eyes
One took offence and the other was swept aside
You pull the newspaper down and look ahead
Sits a stranger with a look in his eyes
and this time
you don’t forget
because its the last time you’ve looked
in someone’s eyes before you forgot yourself
Really beautifully wrapped up ending, and I thoroughly enjoyed the description of ‘a stranger murdered by a stranger’. It’s the perfect description of the senselessness of murder.
Thank you Sekar. I’m glad you got the meaning behind it 🙂
This poem is very chilling. I’m not sure if this was your intention while writing it, but this reminded me of my own irrational, and rational fear of being judged as a shy girl who isn’t socially fluent. I believe that irrational fear is more dangerous then rational fear because then I’m the one who’s judging. After irrational fear happens, no matter if it starts with me, or the other person, a cycle of something very real, and dangerous begins. Two or more people need to be willing to acknowledge the elephant in the room so that our hearts are more understanding, and less closed off to each other. This poem seems to be about real murder, but a heart closed off to other people might be the same thing as murder within the heart.
But empathy comes with allowing ourselves, and other people to be honest without judgement. If we do this I truly believe that we can stop this cycle before it goes too far.
Very well written.
Wow your comment deserves a blog post for itself. Really like the way you think and how my piece resonated with you in this way. Thank you!
Thanks.Enjoyed reading this poem. Great twist with food for thought in the last verse. have a great day.
Thank you Goff 🙂
such a beautiful piece.
suspense created was worth reading.
Thank you Himanshu. I tried something new with suspenseful poetry. Glad you liked it!
I love the play on forgetting you have going on this one. I saw it not just about murder (had to read the comments actually for that one the be hammered home), but about losing yourself, your identity. The obvious suspect? Death. But it could be broader. You could be losing yourself in others, in seeing someone. The tone of the poem is dark, so I’m guessing it’s not about losing yourself in someone’s love. But just the image of losing your soul in the look of someone’s eyes is chilling enough. I really liked this one. Thanks for the piece, Rahul.
I like this analysis. Thank you 🙂
This gave me goosebumps! You write very well
Very nice I enjoyed this
Thank you!
Oh shoot, this gave me chills! Good one!
Thank you. Glad you are liking my posts so much.