Unearthed Poem by Prabhakar Subramaniam

Someone doesn't want the earth
To give up its dead
For the dead, he knows, do tell tales
That will nail the lies of those
Who had laid down what was true
And what was not
Who came before and after
From elsewhere or here
What followed what
The pastoral or the urban;
Someone wants to bury the dead again
Without listening to what they have to say
Hide what can now, never be hidden
A people who learnt the ways of the sea
Went across it to distant lands
And having seen the world
Said it was one and not many
And everything was kindred;
Someone wants to pretend
An ancient city mentioned in hoary verse
Was never found by a living river
Instead wants to search for a mythic one
And a lost civilisation by its banks
He may even declare it to have been found
And turn mythology into history