I was ecstatic to hear from my friend about her daughter winning the prize in a poetry competition held during the Youth Health Mela 2013 in Chennai. She shared with me her daughter's work and when I read it, I was proud to have such a lovely parent, who was bringing up her children the right way, as my friend. The poem echoed my thoughts to the tee and was written so well. She just had to win. Her poem breathes life into naturalist David Attenborough's warning that humans have become a “plague on the Earth”.
Reading this poem gave me hope for the future.
So with her permission, here's the poem.
Reading this poem gave me hope for the future.
So with her permission, here's the poem.
Earth’s Agony
On one night, I had a
dream
So true and so real
it did seem
I came to a moonlit
forest, deep
A black scarfed
woman, there, did weep
I went near and could
hear her cry
“Oh! How lovely, how
beautiful was I!
My skin was smooth
and soft, but now
Its been worked out
with hoe and plough”
“Scarred and marred,
is now my face,
Which once had shone
with youthful grace…
Oh! How I had once
sung blissfully...
But now, its nothing
but my agony”
She sobbed and wept
and it touched my heart
I went nearer, “I’ll
comfort her,” I thought.
“What’s your name?” I
asked childishly
“I’m Mother Earth”
she said patiently
Yes, by her answer,
my eyes did blink!
But her worries I
couldn’t yet link…
“Why
are you crying?” I asked her,
“Do you need some
help my sister?”
“And who are they who
trouble you?
And why do they your
beauty slew?”
“They are none but you”,
she told me
“It’s you and your
kind that trouble me”
“My Nature has many plans for you
But harm and no good
is all they do
They ripped and tore
my Ozone cloak
And in CFC and acid,
it they soaked…
Global warming is
melting me down
I used to be green
but now I am brown…
My forests they cut
and my pets they kill
Yet their desires
won’t satisfy still…
My seas, my eyes are
filling with tears
They are no more blue,
but black I fear…
My soil I gave for
cultivation space
And all my leaves,
for flocks to graze…
But what do you give
me in return?
Smoke from vehicles
and the fuels you burn”
“All day long I
suffocate and cry
But no one hears me,
I’d rather die.
I hope you see that
if you harm me
It’s YOUR END that’s
soon gonna be...”
Saying this, she was
gone, just as my dream
More than Just a ‘Story’, it truly did seem.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for visiting my blog. I do hope that you do like the content and recipes. Do let me know what you think. If you've tried out a recipe from here, I'm dying to hear how it turned out. Do come back.