WALKING TOELESS

Stone by stone you kill me.
Petal by petal I die -


holding a scalpel
to unwrite my name.

Violence
erupts among words.
A temple breaks.
O goddess! don't cry beyond silence.

The infant's milk
spills in darkness.
Antiquity raises a wall
around the mother.

I am vanishing now,
freezing my assets.

Satish Verma