By Aayushi Bohra
My mother boasts an exceptional gift wrapping skill
(To be fair, everything about her is exceptional)
She twists and folds the shimmery paper
Following a complex procedure
And a seamlessly dressed present stands gleaming with pride
That’s another gift my mother has
To make everyone and everything feel beautiful
She would turn every ugly house we moved into
Into a beautiful home
She plants trees in every desolate place she can find
“Trees are important for a promising future”
She always says
But there are more ruins now
Than seeds in my mother’s treasury
And every sip of the cold coffee
From the fancy franchise
Threatens to choke everything that lives
Paper straws in a plastic wrap
What’s more tragically hilarious than that?
Maybe the outright deals to destroy our planet
Replacing the empty promises of tackling rising temperatures and sea levels
We go about our day as if we’re not marching towards our own fatal end
But my mother
My sweet , angelic, giving mother
Rests her head in her hands
And weeps at our collective failure
To give her something back
And hence , to end her misery
I wrap a plastic gift paper around her head
And choke her till her last breath
This sin like a stubborn stain on my soul
And all of ours
It will become my end someday too
By Aayushi Bohra
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