We Are Prisoners Happy Earth Poem by Gayatri Phukan

WE ARE PRISONERS HAPPY EARTH
Original: Assamese: Gayatri Phukan
As we proceeded
We never have
Looked back
At the
forests
hills
waterbodies
We are progressing
Just progressing
Where would this
Journey end

As we filled up the fields
To build mansions
Never ever thought of
Grains it produced
As we filled up the waterbodies
We never ever bothered
Where'd the water go
As we dug up the hills
We never thought
About its heart
Where'd the birds
Build its nests
As we burnt down the forest
We never pondered
About the shadow it provides
Never worried about
Clean air
Or
The animal kingdom

As we ignite the fireworks
We did not cared about
The lungs of the earth getting suffocated
The sun is shining hard
Every passing day
We are breathing easy
Sitting cosily inside the a/c rooms

The ocean is getting restive
Every passing day
With the melting ice of
The Antarctica - The Himalayas

We have never once bothered
We have not cared about
Modernity - ultramodernity
The dream of a luxurious life
Have rendered us disabled

For whom are the atomic weapons
We have forgotten all about
Nagasaki and Hirosima
Have dazzled the earth
By building skyscrapers
Did we ever thought once
How much weight
Can the earth bear?
What is our limitation
Do we still have to
Learn anything?

People are bowed before death
There is no differentiation of
Caste creed
Rich poor
No question of religion
Do you still have to understand
We are just specks of dust
The stars too
Speak of the same
Can we win over
The universe
We are prisoners now
The earth is fine
Now
The cars buses trains ships planes
The factories and machines
Are silent
The animals
Got back
Their world
The birds are
singing and chirping merrily

You and i
Are prisoners
The earth is fine
As we become free
We'd start
Looting and raping
The earth
We are prisoners
The earth is happy


Translated by: Bibekananda Choudhury