By Aditya Soyanke

 In the womb or the world

I was blind then,

Had the dark to blame though.

Even out here, I’m blind,

with no darkness to blame but within me.

Was dependant on a mother figure back then,

now I call myself independent as I hide behind the screen that chants “be social” in my ears, befriending social anxiety and depression instead.

I could breathe even under water then,

Now I am out in the open but even the air betrays my lungs;

Could be as I was free back then, now my thoughts are crippled with hatred and my inability to accept.

Used to sleep peacefully listening to the music that the only heartbeats other than mine created,

Now I jam to the strumming of bullets and grenades and chaos unknowingly.

Was attached by a string straight to my very being, that marked my existence then,

  Now many strings pull me, none deeper than my flesh, that has been hardened,

promising me nothing but a shell of vain emotional security.

Our kicks and shrugs used to hurt our mothers sometimes, we felt remorse then.

Now our words and our weapons cut through flesh and blood and we could not care less; so tell me now,Were we better humans in the womb or out in the world? In the womb or the world?