Memories gnaw at me,

relentless and recurring,

But I try to shut them off.

Sometimes when I open the door,

I see two faces in you,

One of innocence that I lived

Other, a devouring Dragon,

waiting to sweep away last trace of my childhood.

A doppelganger you have become.

Sometimes at night I hear you whimper,

I picture you as a child but I can't lull you to sleep,

Sometimes the whimpers becomes shrill of wails

that threatens to wake my sleeping conscience.

But why would you cry, I wonder.

You have brands to hide your bruised skin,

Pop corns and Pizzas to quench your hunger

Why don't you dance to sleazy item numbers,

amid dazzling lights in burgeoning discotheques?

Why would you cry?

You have shopping malls to live in, isn't it?

Sometimes I feel your innocent eyes peering at me,

Like ember you burn at a corner of my existence.

I try each moment to save my childhood days from the fire

I try not to be weakened by your invisible gaze.

I had bartered my soul long ago

But my last leaf grew in your branches.

Now like a caged bird I am tied to my existence,

My roots have been burnt, my paradise lost,

I have nowhere to go, 

I have no hope of salvation.