An Olive Morning Poem by Savita Tyagi

It rained all night
Slow drizzle like sweet dreams streaming in droopy eyes
Till a thunderstorm bursts with lightning like a bad dream
Eyes open with a shock, traumatized sleepy mind tries to peek in darkness
Lightning provides a terrifying flash of light not to console but to send further chills
I tried to go back to sleep but thunder keeps me awake
The window was open to let the gentle breeze in
Instead it sends shrieking wind with loud noise
Rain and lightning was making the night sinister
I could hear it in bird's sound
It was not the joyful chirping to greet the morning
But fearful wailing
Were their nests rain soaked?
I wondered!

Birds aren't the only one
Millions of millions have their roofs leaking in a night like this
Some don't even have roofs
We cry out for natural disasters
Yet Man made calamities are creating tent houses
faster than Nature could
Numbers are increasing day by day
Safe areas are barricaded with barb wire
Properties have more value than human life.

All of us struggle to create wealth with hard work and fair earnings
But for some there are no just wages
Only laws to prevent the saturation of wealth
wealth and power concentrated and consolidated among few
Most accept the system
Not all have the fighting spirit
A day goes by just to make their own living
we see, we hear, we feel the hard ship from a distance
Like drenching rain and the wailing birds in terrifying darkness
But dark night and rain is still comforting
Strangely and surely moments of peace creep into suffering.

Life offers much more than what happens
In our day to day life
It Offers an olive morning
Extending into azure sky of mid day
And receding in to a persimmon sunset
A desire and hope to live and enjoy the realm of possibilities.

I drift in and out of my senses
The thunder and lightning disappeared
Sun's rays started filtering from nylon mash of clouds
The cheerful energy of dawn was in the air
Rain soaked lawn was looking greener
In that olive morning.