Mirage!

(Image source: Pixabay.com)

Sea of faces swarmed in like locusts in a field,

Some sat on cushioned seats in first class,

Some jostled for space like lesser mortals,

Some perched precariously on the rooftop of shrilling train.

Amidst the cacophony of animated conversations,

The awful news was hearsay again?

She tempted and teased with tresses as long as Rapunzel’s,

Or the fashionista has unshackled lust,

Her painted pink lips as a Venus flytrap tricked,

Or maybe she was of immoral moral fibre after-all!

Scandalous and discomforting all and sundry,

Save for incessant seething protests on roads,

And mirthful observations from elite,

Solemn pledge to counter mounting menace-a mirage!

I ponder over appalling pretexts,

At abysmal attempts to shield,

The unappeasable caprice of patriarchy,

As time and again we incarcerate freedom:

Of expression, of existence, of ethnicity!