listening.

Written by: Mathi K

Edited by: Sonaxi Satpathy

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are you listening in? 

listening in is your right. 

listening is the least of our rights.

do we usually hear only the loudest voices, or the ones that get lost in the aftermath, 

at the wake of the war? 

which do we choose to hear? 

isn’t sometimes the loudest the easiest? 

and when it quiets down,  

what is left? 

the dusty rubble, the dark memories, the rust of the tarnished past.

it turns to a brighter future, however, 

at the cost of the lost. 

does fear makes the voice loud,

and comfort makes the voice soft?

possibly.

when the voice reaches a certain pitch,

it has to reach its lowest as well. 

and that’s when-

when the intensity reduces, 

when the voices quieten,

when the attention wavers.

so how is it they rebuild what is lost? 

how is it they regain the voice that they lost? 

how is it they function again?   

only one way.

they start again,

slow, 

steady, 

softly.