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The survivor and the dead: A poem by Parul Banerjee

I witnessed her struggles to exist


fighting with all her life, to live.

I lived through all her struggles

cos we were in it together.

Alas! When our struggles were over

when we had broken free of the shackles

I found myself separated from her.

While she was wearing the tag of a survivor

I was labelled as dead.

I did not know how to take my demise?

Whether I wanted to exist as dead or I wished to hold onto life?

Was the purpose of my struggle defeated

when I left life

Because I was struggling to live not to die?

We were in the same boat.

We huffed and puffed rowing away with heavy oars.

One moment she was alive like me,

the next, as death set me free

she lived still!

Perhaps, she is still chained in life

So, as a consolation, she is said to have survived!