The Great Game

(by Randeep Wadehra)

lost
in the roar of steel dust
mortar paper and bone
merge with cascade
of flutter from skies
as megatons totter
earthward
screens afire
with sky-ripping missiles
amid thuds and blasts
a child clings
to her half-burnt doll
a streak of red
from her forehead
blends with tears
dribbles onto the beard
of her torpid father
earth leaps
mountains totter
God and Satan
loll on a couch
and watch
*****

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