The Strange Smiles Of Our Land Poem by Veeraiyah Subbulakshmi

Shall we play a few famous games, dear child?
Look at that moon that is wild,
When you run, it follows you,
When you stop, you will stop it too,
Could you see the running clouds,
Over the moon, or the shy moon behind the veil,
The sand is heaped beside the new foundations,
Where you play merrily with freshened moon,
Keeping the arms as the pillow,
I have seen you looking at it with love,
Dozens of full moon have passed,
While you grow admiring it,
Writing the first letter of Tamil,
On the river sand slate, beside your uncle,
We heap the sands with our hands,
Making a long pyramid hiding the pebble,
You have to find where the riddle is hid,
By placing your hands at the right place,
Do you remember the days we walk on the beach sand,
Under the moon lit white nights, when the waves,
Of the Bay of Bengal blabber the story of grandma,
Who is posing from the emerging moon,
Another day when we played in our paddy fields,
Your knees were kissed by the runaway lilies,
You picked up that and placed in the altar of prosperity,
The soil of our roots contains the weakened blood,
Coagulated everywhere with false believes,
You are here, child, with your eyes open wide,
The sugar candies are sold in the sweet stalls,
The pungent mangoes occupy both sides of our roads,
You salivate to taste the flavor of those,
Seeing that expression my heart weeps in despair,
Schools are built everywhere, books are given free,
For you to be wise, free lunch is available in our schools,
Our fathers and brothers have no work,
Our mothers toil with the fire,
The elected are in the central and the state,
Taking care of one of third,
leaving the two third blaming their fate,
this is the strange game in our land,
where our Gods reside in the comfortable homes.
Hesitate to visit our leaking dooms.
Let us play the game of smiling face,
When you smile at me in vain,
I may smile at you in pain.