The Song Of Earth Poem by Alexander Raju

After a long drought of three or more months,
The rain comes so suddenly that you hear
The earth sings a hissing song - hiss and hiss -
Like an angry or excited serpent,
As the thirsty cassava plants absorb
The rain water, and swell and grow quite large
Into a good edible size, well-served,
And the smell of the black fertile soil spreads
Like the mesmeric odour of cobras,
That they too sing with the earth and the rain.

The showers pit-patting on the tin-roof
Of my house make my head reel, break my head,
The lilt of the heavy rain-drops drumming
On house-tops rouses bitter memories,
The singing earth and the drumming rain-drops
Mingling with the drowsy smell of the soil
Make all creations of the earth and heaven
Intoxicate, that they all sing and dance,
And forget all the concerns of the world
To share the great song of true survival!

Gondar - September 27,2018.