Honeymooners return in half,
caskets holding their hubbies.
Where do we find the balsam
for the bloodstained widows?
We concur that it is our collective
failing, but how does it ameliorate
the mourners? Someone advised
cricketers with black armbands?
Whatever path the Nation pursues,
let gimmicks be in the gurgler.
Real woe requires worthy results.
No waffle, no wamble.
‘
Sanjeev Sethi
Picture Nick Victor
*In a dastardly terrorist attack, 26 tourists, all men, were killed in a few minutes in Pahalgam on April 22, 2025. Pahalgam is in the Indian Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Sadly, some of the dead were honeymooners
Sanjeev Sethi has authored eight books of poetry. Legato Without a Lisp is his latest (CLASSIX, New Delhi, September 2024). His poetry has been published in over thirty-five countries and has appeared in more than 500 journals, anthologies, and online literary venues. He edited Dreich Planet # 1 India, an anthology for Hybriddreich, Scotland, in December 2022. He is the joint winner of the Full Fat Collection Competition-Deux, organized by Hedgehog Poetry Press, UK. In 2023, he won the First Prize in a Poetry Competition by the National Defence Academy, Pune. He was conferred the 2023 Setu Award for Excellence. He lives in Mumbai, India.
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