A Losing Battle Poem by Parivallal Swamy

Act one.

Kill me at once,
Perhaps, with a sun-sized asteroid,
But not slowly, not slowly,
I wish my death to be short,
And to die without a disease,
Just like a human's wish,
I wish to be blown away by an asteroid,
Definitely not by plastics,
I'm yet to be heard, my anguish,
Cried "Mother Nature",
"Do not litter", cried the placards all along the way….

Scoundrels none.

They certainly are barbarians,
My brethren, I pronounced with grief,
Never bothered about serenity,
While they danced with a mad rush,
How different human personas can be?
I speculated,
Only morals would've set them right,
Not anymore, not now,
As they spoil the charm of a serene night,
Who is to take the blame, the Progenitors?
Or descendants? I think none would,
For they see pride in mischiefs of children,
And made a habit even after they grew up,
I speculated,
I decided not to argue with them, my poor brethren,
Why would I ruin my chance?
To witness the glimpse of Milky way,
So I turn my attention to the star of the night,
"The stars in a cloudless night sky"....

Star Gaze.

Despite, we stood quiet, wondered,
At the gallery of stars that adorned the night sky,
I gave up on similes and metaphors,
"Stars on a clear night sky", nothing more,
I grinned when I spotted those three stars,
Three stars on a straight line,
We talked about constellations,
I mused on human imagination,
I wish to state, "imagination is mother of invention",
I then thought of life, a possibility,
In one of the stars that kept us awestruck,
A being, more intelligent, more kind,
Yet more advanced and powerful, than our kin,
I sighed, I questioned myself,
How a being can be both powerful and humble?
My mind wavered at these endless thoughts,
"Stars on a clear night sky", I expected none,
Only if a city runs out of power,
People who run after materials, would feel,
The calmness that can make one strong,
That can bring eternal peace, and
That cleanses us from all our mortal desires,
"Stars on a clear night sky",
No similes, no metaphors….

We are the Sunlight.

She didn't want me to sleep late, the cold wind,
She didn't want us to miss the mystic morning,
Quiet, My mind in those moments,
Moments when it claims to my heart,
"I have attained the state, Nirvana",
My mind proclaimed, but not with ego,
My ego melted in the gentle morning sunlight,
I realised that it is in these times,
We really live, forgetting self to unite,
To unite with the indomitable spirit of nature,
We are these mountains, the cool breeze,
Those few birds which dared to touch the peaks,
We are those rhododendrons we saw,
We are the sunlight, we are it's warmth,
We are her, mother Nature,
I saw for the first time, the true yellow,
It isn't like the colour I've been shown thus far,
It's pure, it's kind, it's healing, more than a medicine,
It's next to water, the other elixir gifted to mankind,
We are lost, but not in spirits….

It isn't "A losing battle".

While we embraced the warmth,
Our gaze shifted to the tents,
And the human exploits, My friend is upset,
Me a bit little, maybe I've seen worse,
Maybe I foresaw it, I'm not sure,
Now, we are the empty bottles,
Plastic bottles, their caps, plastic cups,
We are the Poly wrappers, all strewn,
It's not just these that are scattered untidily,
But the human mind, their untidy behaviors,
My friend is upset and so am I,
Where goes a person's responsibilities?
Is it hiding behind their arrogance?
Where goes one's public behaviors?
Is it under the influence of drunken madness?
We decided to do something,
To clear up the mess, my countrymen made,
When the waste warriors informed all along,
To not litter and to keep the mountains clean and tidy,
Why we couldn't? Are we illiterates?
Are we culture-less nomads? We aren't,
Then I feared we could become one,
So we picked a bag and start collecting the trash,
When people around us didn't bothered to help,
When souls are busy taking pictures,
Of the mighty morning sun rising behind mountains,
We continued to do what we intend to,
We cleared most of the litter,
None worried, except for shameless gossips,
I must say, We did not do it out of pride,
But of utter shame, of disability of this countrymen,
It is a lie to tell I'm not sarcastic when I say,
"We were assured about the cleanliness,
Of this beautiful hill top, When it is crowded,
With our good brothers of this proud country",
I asked myself, "Are we waging a losing battle? ",
I told myself that we aren't, I hope we aren't,
I hope….