One Far Off Evening Poem by Aniruddha Pathak

I still can see that Jamun tree,
Still feel that evening, all haste free,
Field fencing made of thorny thor,
Dry twigs and whatso availed for,
A watchful kite gliding by,
A mongoose keeping a vigilant eye,
Under sugarcane crop be-stirred by
Breeze, a harmless snake sliding by….

Farther back, sounds of singing bells,
Bullocks drawing water from wells,
I see farmers sowing their fields
In hope of rich crops, karmic yields,
Birds and bees hovering around,
And the scare-crows vigilance bound,
Grey white clouds slowly receding,
At love's labour overlooking….

And then I half hear my mother call
Me, and the scene begins to fall.
There is giant black machine
Moving on to foregoing scene,
Smoke of diesel and black tar,
It levels up everything at par,
One hurtling down its dusty load,
One more surfacing a tar road….

And my evening's pleasant dream
Turns into a nightmare grim
When my village was devoured by
The growing girth of a city near by
One far off evening….
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Reminiscing | 15.03.2020 |
Topic: remember, village, city