Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Ending up on the shores

O human!

It is your own doing,

Now you stand upon these lonely shores,

Regretting your faults,

The mistakes you made before

Now, you stand on clumsy feet,

Still, the earth supports your burden

Still conserves those signs of your existence,

The winding roads on which you had trodden

Since your birth the earth nurtured you,

Fondled you with all her care,

What have you left behind? [O wretched human]

Death, destruction and despair.

Dying of shame, you whimper,

Your face buried in your hands,

And it hits you, all that had gone wrong,

When you ruled the great oceans, the lands.

You should have seen it long ago,

When your fate hadn’t been carved,

Into the stones of history, all you can do,

Now is pick up the broken pieces, the shards.

Friday, August 11, 2006

Boot polish

boot polish!
i heard a cry,
tore my eyes away from the landscape,
my eyes rivoted onto a little boy,
he looked of four but may have been three,

a dirty shirt wrapped around his body,
he knelt upon the carriage floor,
pointing at my boots he looked up with inquiring eyes,
boot polish! he said again

giving a slight nod i handed my boots to him,
with a torn rag and a dollop of polish,he set to work
in a while, the boots shone as good as new
i handed him his'char rupiayah',he tucked them into his shirt

getting down at the next stop,
i saw the little boy get down as well,
swiflty he ran to another boy,
together they marched up to a stall,

handing over the pay, they shared a 'samosa'
he couldnt hide his glee, as he tucked into his meal for the day,
the whistle sounded,he ran into the train,
i heard the same cry again,
boot polish!

Thursday, August 10, 2006