River Out Of Harmony Poem by Saroj Padhi

The river of Love is drying up
in our embattled, endangered swim upstream
when metals are more precious than mortals
and chaffs, more glamorous than the cream;
virtue sits in some dark corner
as roots of vice strike the center;
sands raise storms of disquiet and disgust
in absence of hearts' clear streams
that once fed the soul of the river
now are caught in heat of fake daydreams;
a few surviving trickles try to cool
her bare ribs burning
under the wrath of a noon Sun
like the aerial roots desperately striving
to touch the ground of certainty and certitude;
we wait in the deserted thorny banks
haunted by ghosts of merciful scavengers
with love of carcass over our heads hovering
with little hope of escape from imminent death
as life is lost in the hollow buzz of senseless living
like an eclipsed Moon in dark night
caught in the throes of rebirth
as she sulks behind the hills
and for light is found softly crying;
now the river is no more anxious
to reach out to the sea,
in her desire herself to be;
silently I can listen to her
burrowing the soil beneath der sandy bed
for finding a place for rest eternal
in the midst of commotions, fights on the banks
for Justice to descend on my land
grown unsafe for my daughter
who lives in terror of Kunduli criminals
under the shadow of fading roses!