That which does not kill us makes us stronger.
– Friedrich Nietzsche
So I made my choice, because
they say you always have one,
and wrapping hellfire in blind
impenetrable faith, locked it
deep under my Adam’s ridge.
Now my poison sits grumpy in
its frail cell: cuffed poltergeist,
cloudburst held in indefinite
arrest; and I am become Shiva,
saviour of two worlds.
In Hindu mythology, Halāhal, a deadly poison, surfaced when devas (gods) and asuras (demons) churned Kṣīr Sāgar (ocean of milk) to obtain amruta (nectar of immortality). With the world at the brink of annihilation, Shiva chose to hold the poison in his throat, indefinitely, thus saving all of creation.
Ankit Raj Ojha is winner of the 2023 Briefly Think Essay Prize, finalist in the Sundress 2023 Broadside Contest, and editor at The Hooghly Review. His writings have appeared in Poetry Wales, Poetry Scotland, The Honest Ulsterman, Stanchion, Routledge, Johns Hopkins University Press, and elsewhere. A former software engineer and rock band frontman, Ankit is an assistant professor of English, having authored Pinpricks: poems (2022) and edited Wives: poems (2023). X: @ankit_raj01 || Instagram: @ankitrajojha1
More work by Ankit Raj Ojha
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