A Lie, a Lie | Oishee Bhattacharyya

I’ve got you fooled without trying.
You think I’m all that you see.
‘You’re cute’, I’m told, on a daily basis.
Maybe that’s all you know about me.

But beneath these veins
Right under my bones
Even further in
Where there’s nothing and everything
Lives another
Breathing and watching,
Neither white nor black
Nor blue, red or green
And specially not pink
But disturbingly, me.
I’m all shadows and all hidden thoughts
That no one can talk about.
I’m neither woman nor man nor both nor neither
I’m not defined by anything
That the world has cooked up to suit it’s stories
Not one shape, not one form.
Neither right nor wrong,
Not even one person,
I’m a cacophony of voices that never agree
I’m rage disguised as brooding silence
I’m all primal instincts made dormant, lying still.
I am insanity coaxed into seeming indifference.
I’m all the darkness in the world brought to light.
Or maybe I’m you and you are me.
Below the bones.
But who can tell
Before we meet on the other side of hell.

But for now I’ll act my part
(I’m sure you would too)
I’ll be what I am expected to be.
When you call me cute, I’ll quietly smile
Knowing full well what a lie, what a lie.

Indian Review | Author | Oishee Bhattacharyya writes on Indian Review | Indian Literature in English

Oishee Bhattacharyya is a student of English Literature at Calcutta University