History Poem by Sathya Narayana

By digging the earth
you are trying to dig out the history
and filling the tomes
with your apocryphal absurdities.
How wrong, how wrong!
How much the broken earthen pots can tell you
about the stolen golden chalices?
How well the unintelligible writings on rock-platters
can sing you
about the fallen ramparts
of past glory?

How much moisture
the ruins retained
of past's sweat-soaked stories
and tearful tales?

How can you harken
from the bygone winds
those chanted holy hymns,
and the incessant tolls
from divine temples
that prayed for human wellbeing?

You are just collecting
the thrown out faeces,
nauseating vomitus
and blood-spilled sands
to conclude
that we had a stinking past.

You will never know the sweet and bitter
the yummy and bland
the sumptuous and little
our humble ancestors
had tasted and endured
with love and pain
and long digested
without a trace for you
to unearth.