HAS MAN TRANSFORMED?

Household items like a mind, like some one’s corporeal self
became unholy,
freshly cooked food swept away in the open sewer
and the crawling animal on the ceiling
fell down on the floor with a thud,
a chasm broke through the wall
and she rushed outdoors.

Time at the end of day
is terrifying
Lights – light up and go off ,
nightmares planted in slumber
taint the day that follows.

Why do you scale epochs
by measures of days, months and years?
Who answered the prayers of suppliants
who spread out their palms in front of mythical gods?

Graves dug over a distance of a thousand years
remain the same,
and the rest – has it changed?
Has man changed?
Have his hand- made artifacts changed,
his weapons changed
or have the lessons in loyalty and treachery also changed?
How far apart is the world’s first lie
from the world’s last truth?
Has she been able to see through her enemy?

Civilization contoured beauty
on the face of the one at a distance;
abused and spat on the face of the one that came nearer
and filled its own lap with tears.