Gateway to Peace

There is an alley, we dare to visit

For we swore to not look back.

Quaggy and fetid the ground is, with

Indelible unshod footprints around.

The stench lingers to just immorals –

For there is no divine fragrance,

to cleanse, but only self – love!

Trifling it may be, yet extant enough

to relive – like an unsheathed sword

Pain bides her time to thrust her way in.

Bleary and weary looks the way back,

Stars weighing down as we lug forth.

Acknowledge. Empathize. Forgive.

For, one mistake cannot justify other!

Finitely numbered, egressed the aisle

to ingress the gateway to peace!

Liberated are those who dared to call,

the rest lived a disquieting sojourn.

Archana Gopalakrishnan Nair