Searing Heat

An ascetic dies in a shoe
spilling blood.
A surreal moon
wants to investigate –

a sectarian divide of
fraudulent sky.
And you want to be buried
under rose petals –

courting controversies
to clean the polluted river.
A lifeboat was needed
to take you for a quiz –

singing national anthem.
Emblematic,
You were sharpening
your nails.

Satish Verma