Silence is Surrender : A Dystopian Poem
In this haunting dystopian poem, Aarshia Sen explores how Silence is Surrender when tyranny and environmental collapse take hold, urging us to speak out before the world finally stops breathing.
I
I watched the world burn,
not in sudden flames,
but in slow suffocation.
Smoke became the new weather,
and people learned to breathe it
like faith.
They said it was order—
the collapsing towers,
the soldiers on every street,
the cities turning to echoes.
I had to stay quiet,
because the loud ones
didn’t come back.
The oceans died next.
They said it was natural,
but we could taste iron in the rain.
Books were contraband,
truth was contrition,
and I needed to stay quiet,
because no one wants a target
with their face on it.
By the time the sky dimmed for good,
I had grown old enough to understand
that silence is not survival—
it’s surrender.
So I wouldn’t stay quiet anymore.
Not when the air itself
begged for someone to scream.
So when they came for the Communists,
I spoke out,
because I know
how the poem ends.
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