we are lying down on the VC's lawn
under the flagpole, my head a stray
kurkure on your shoulder, lying as in
lying through your teeth and down
as in we're gonna gun you down.
we had your white shawl for grass buffer.
the nation billowed over our heads
but its shadow pillowed our bodies.
on the news we heard what happens
when a country is drunk on country.
i dyed the shawl blue with borrowed sky.
all the flags look the same as shadows
and all the shadows look the same at night.
~ ajay
25/5/2024
first published in poems india
