The Freefall

'How did it go?'

When after, straight off the brinks
Of a space shuttle,
Where the gravity acts in the worst faith
With the eyes of the dogma;
Where the boundaries, blindfolded,
The blind bind themselves within, 
Seem ridiculous;
Where the limits of the earth 
Look locked in a geoid,
And the skies look all black;
Where the science manifests 
Its most ostentatious victory, vanquishing
All the unflinching earthen wisdom;
From where, when after,
The skydiver dived into the earth,
I asked,
‘How did the freefall go?’
Some said, ‘Tensed', 
Some said,
‘Calm, piece of cake for that nerve’;
He said, ‘confident.’
But wasn’t there something 
Beyond all the tales?
Something beyond the tone 
That they spoke then and 
The Science always speaks in.

When after, the kingfisher, 
Off a willow branch,
Eyes locked into the prey,
Dived in,
Beaks first,
I asked,
‘How did the freefall go?’
They said, 'Instinctive,’ unanimously.
How I wish the Kingfisher said—
Just anything! In words. But it didn't.
But that's not just it. 
I was looking for something beyond that.
Something that makes the paranoid conscious
Quiver human feet, 
Placed on the edge 
Of a hundred feet high cliff. 

When after, the paratrooper 
Deployed off the chopper,
Geared up,
Into the mess of the mass’s biggest mockery,
The Civilization,
I asked,
‘How did that freefall go?’
Some said, ‘Scary, afterall a human he is’; 
Some said, ‘A moment of utmost pride, 
Nothing better a man could ask for’;
He said nothing.
But I want to break his silence,
And know how he felt 
Beyond what they say,
The ineffable emptiness 
That latched his lips up.

When after, the bereft—
Bereft of any belief whatsoever;
Jumped off the bridge railings,
I asked,
'How did the freefall go?'
Some sympathised, 
‘Devastated, sick and tired’;
Some exclaimed, ‘What a coward!’
He didn't wait to say anything;
But I want to know,
Wasn't there something 
Beyond all these speculations,
Something that betrayed all the meanings 
He had to live for?

When after, the stone fell off the cliff,
And lost itself in the nature's ubiquity,
I asked,
'How did the freefall go?'
They all said, 
'You've lost your mind.'
That I have, that I have!
Trying to see what's beyond 
The reflection of
The reflection of
The reflection of....the mirror.
The science explains it all.
The sane don't lose their sanity 
Trying to catch the bigger fish
Deeper down the pond. 
They ask me,
'Who knows if the truth is there
But it isn't here?
How do you guarantee?'
So I ask them,
'Isn't there anything 
Beyond the two ends
Of Truth and Lie?'
That's why, 
I asked the stone as well,
‘How did the freefall go?’
I want to know what's it like
To exist without a life. 
I want to know where elsewhere on earth,
The fall of the stone
Cause an earthquake,
And shook the brick and mortar
The flesh and blood,
And the souls?

Artwork by Marcus Wallinder. He goes by the username meanwhileinnowhere on Instagram.