Blood Red Roads Poem by Rajesh Kumar Vaid

A human, a man, a friend, beloved,
This lively friend, a father, a husband, this thread,
The person, a brother, to father a son,
The very life, to a mother, her son, is now dead!

Oh Death, thou art so powerful, we respect,
Oh Death, dwell sure is inevitable, what regret!
But Oh, and how and when you snap the thread,
Pray can’t You wait for thread to grow and break instead!

My eyes rain burn and serene memory flashes,
The thoughts so churn my bosom flesh mashes,
Heart rendering scenes of agony and pain,
A daughter and a son, little children, left after Your claim

Old father and frail mother, we saw and what to say,
The father wails Oh Death instead could have morsed me away,
Oh no! Oh! Scream, what a life left to live,
To see the body of young son fire decay,

A beauty, a flower, a gift of love, a life,
The promises, the wait, the smiles, some fights,
The life of togetherness and laughter and glee,
That life is now over for his friend and his wife!

This nation, this notion of great progress,
Of infrastructure, and development and cars that impress,
But how this government and businessmen, careless,
We have deathly roads and cars san safety, distress!

One Tata, a Khattar, this Hyundai, this Ford,
Push their vehicles to gullibles on the road,
But they sure know that if they put in car this balloon
A thousand lives could be spared, can’t they this much, afford!

However, ‘tis just a number, mere number, such demise,
For Government, with Directive Principles is no premise,
The price of an ordinary Indian is less than a dog,
Tis only of politicos, and VIPs and rich, that life hath a price

Is there any hope out of this, I cry, this quagmire,
Of corruption, this loot, of blood red roads and tyres,
Or it will remain this or will become worst,
And you and I will only find our souls rest in funeral pyre!