the gaze

you look
at me
i look
at myself
being
looked at.

you suject
object i?

whose
the third
looking
at us.

at you
looking
at me.

at me.

so that now
i cannot
throw
the gaze
that picks me
to the bone.
so that now
you look
at me
he looks
at me
i look
at myself
being
looked at.
so that now
i
cannot
must not
should not
will not
look back.

© Copyright by tina rathore

god is dead.

Nietzsche said
god is dead
we are now free
to be or not to be.

you madman
with a lantern
oh! you meek
what reality you seek?

you the one who said
ah! god is dead.
from illusion us you wake
for whose sake?

let us believe
in one who relieve
no God am i
nor can be.

let me be
your spiritual tree
with fruits of gold
and future untold.

ah! you god
now you behold
the incarnation, resurrection,
all action in inaction.

i killed him in
the countri-inn
Him I stabbed
with colour daubed.

innocent am i?
a victim, a liar
no ganges can,
no thames that ran
can wash these hands,
of coloured sands,
can dig away the corpse
of my hopes.

God you call me
so let it be
but i no not
to be or not to be.

© Copyright by tina rathore