Peom: KILLING ALZHEIMER

by Pratik Raghu (June 09)
Two black flames had been masked by cloud,
A knife’s edge had been smothered by a shroud,
Two titanium claws had been gnawed by age,
An indomitable eagle had been trapped in a cage,
A razor of a beak had been all but clipped,
Towards unbroken silence the scales seemed tipped,
The forest floor slid slowly out of frame,
But the battered raptor would not succumb in shame,
The shadows of its feathers were again on the ground,
It soared to another tree, and there it found,
Chicks that nudged the side of its head,
Chirps that drowned out bitterness and dread,
Then and again it plummeted from the nest,
Still, still, it refused compliance and rest,
Now, it squints at the demon that hangs,
And rolls back the years to shatter its fangs,
For, you see, the blaze that appeared doused and gone,
Now roasts misery from dusk to dawn.