THE WASTELAND REVISITED

May is the maddest month
Like a pot
poetry may break into shreds on the rocks of time
or buried in the sands of in silence
It moves every mind , heart and soul subtly, glocally
An anonymous reader pays homage
To the memory of disturbing Dostoyevsky
or a mysterious Kafka or
A committed Neruda or
gets spellbound by prolific Pamuk,
magical Margaret and determined Doris
who penned persistently
for bread and beauty.
***

Now real wars replaced the cold war
violence possessed the souls of the rulers and the ruled
indifference hovers like a cloud
Beasts and birds are bemused by the brutality of human being
Welcome, Peace and justice
Go back, war and injustice
yesterday’s victims of holocaust
today’s persecutors of Palestinians
The pursuit of territory and technology by
The lone super power sans super reason
Smashed the sanity of nations into smithereens
The fanatical hand powders the tall towers built in patience
The sane voice of Sen falls on deaf ears
Tolstoy calls war vicious , peace precious
The wounded soldiers lying on the battle field
And watching the azure sky pray
The god of History to shower love, not hatred
***
A Moses or a Martin Luther
A Mahatma Gandhi or a Mother Theresa
come and teach love, peace to us
We need prophets not for every millennium
But more often
Since we acquired immuno deficiency to
historical amnesia and intellectual inertia

***

The passionate prophet of Socialism
made many leap into the fire of revolution
shook the days of rapacious capitalism
Lenin’s genius , Mao’s practicality
the tenacity of Ho-Chi-Minh, Castro and Guevara
Are now memories…
***
The specters of consumerism- extremism are haunting all
But a hungry dog, a jobless man
Or a passionate seeker of justice would ask
“Is Market the real measure of all living creatures” ?
She sells seashells on the sea shore
He sells samosas in the shopping malls
Neither ration shops nor shopping malls
Would save the perplexed humanity
The tribals of Papi hills and the evacuees of Narmada dam
disdain profit and faceless technology
Terrorism and State terrorism trounce our democracy
In dire need of discipline, punctuality and cleanliness
***

The weavers, the farmers and the students are
Scapegoats on the altar of “’compassionate’ capitalism”
Health and education are too dear for many
The villages are withering
The cities are sewages bursting at seams
The national highways lead to death
***
Need the greedy man who failed the earth
Migrate to the moon or Mars to cause cosmic pollution?
Would posterity excuse this?
Nature and man live in each other
Never send a missile into your intrinsic sky
See, listen, and think with your heart
A wave that leaves the sea slams its head on a stone
Let the Cosmos / the Earth outlive the MAD man

Would Kalam’s dream ever become true?
Can technology terminate the poverty of goods and minds?
Yes, the youth - the heroes of the present
pledge prosperity, power and priority
***
The blade of grass that swings to air is a dancer
The wayside forest fire that arrests your feet is a painter
The cloud-capped hills and forbearing dogs
Teach music of life
If nuclear winter be at hand,
Can spiritual spring be far behind?