'You' Bluffed 'Us'

 'YOU' BLUFFED 'US'

-ISHANA GHOSH

'This' is not a request.

I remember, as a child,

how you taught me

values like honesty and bravery

and I took them so seriously.

When you said, 'Hurting others is bad',

I really thought that you meant it.

When you said, 'Help others...',

I believed that to you,

that was the right thing to do.

And when you said,

'It's wrong to be self-centered

and it's right to care',

I naively imagined that,

'that' was what you wanted

to see, in the grown-up me.

And so, I grew up,

expecting a world, where

flowers bloomed in a beautiful scenery.

But of course, we all know,

what actually happened.

Each of us stepped out

of the world of innocence,

to find what was awaiting us,

was a world, governed by treachery,

where malice comes cheaper than purity,

if you want to survive.

And so, we had to find out the hard way

that the bad men we hear of,

are actually souls like us,

bent out of shape,

and there's a chance of 

us, turning into them.

So, here we are today,

wanting things to change, and

wanting to change things,

but feeling helpless all over again.

You, the world, is responsible for this

and you, the world, must change.

The duty of fulfilling the promises

you made, to the little ones you raised,

is on your shoulders alone.

So bring us that world

which you once promised,

bring us the peace we seek.

Show us, that all of it wasn't a bluff

and you didn't preach something,

you yourself didn't properly believe.

Help us see, that

you can be trusted again.

Help us believe, that

life is not a race or a game.

And this, which I ask of you,

'this' is not a request.

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