A King’s Monologue

by Probal Basak / March 8th, 2020

Go. All of you now go away.
You have new foes to slay,
Far away from native lands,
Far away from loved hands,
Go. All of you now go away.
You have your soul to slay.

I have new lands to storm,
You all put on the uniform.
Find a oily world to daunt,
Don’t let slain souls haunt.
Go. All of you now go away.
You have your soul to slay.

I have coffins for your rest,
Flags to wrap hollow chest,
I am ready to lay the wreath,
On tombstones hiding death.
Go. All of you now go away.
You have your soul to slay.

Before the new replaces you,
Gimme brave stories to chew,
I have prepared all the notes,
Be my drones, get me votes.
Once you’re long gone to hell.
I’ll tweet: All is well. All is well.

Probal Basak, 35, from India, started his career as a journalist working with Press Trust of India, Business Standard covering mostly socio-political issues. His first collection of poems 'Flakes of Time' was published by Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters. Probal, a writer and translator, writes poetry and his works have been published in literary journals like Rust+Moth, The New Verse News, Dissident Voice, Spillwords, Asian Signature. Read other articles by Probal.

This article was posted on Sunday, March 8th, 2020 at 8:02am and is filed under Poetry.