IN THE WILDERNESS

Stuffed bird in a museums

Illustration 1: Stuffed Crested Lark in a natural histiry museum: species of plants and animials are becoming extinct with progress and development of Indutrial Civilisation.

IN THE WILDERNESS
 
Perhaps I could sing words of birds
Along smiling shoots of spring
In the company of mango bloom
And soothing green of cuckoo's Pancham,
And dance under the canopy of clouds
To the peacock's call in the backyards
On the pathway of Meghdootam
There in the abode of Saras;
Or inscribe them on deadly diskettes
For the posterity.

In my mega-city, mummies
Of birds celebrate, sing silently,
In the tombs of Natural History.
Who shall cherish the memory
Of my jungle of skyscrapers
And of glass buildings which scares
The heavenly eagles away;
Of serpentine Metro that snatches
The abode of Shesha's descendants away?

[29-2-1996]

(Pancham: the Fifth note of the seven tones. Eagle is considered Lord Visnhu's vehicle by the Hindus.
Meghdootam: The classic literary work in Sanskrit by poet Kalidasa. Shesha: Primeval serpent that lives in lower world, the bed of Lord Vishnu, the ancester of snakes on the earth.)
© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

A Natural Order

A Natural Order

Springtime had gone long ago, since then
I walked, and walked the traders’ mall
Of the recognized teaching marts
And the recognized preaching marts
That promise happiness or welfare.

Now I try to recycle the historic manmade
Garbage collected over many monsoons since
The bygone spring; could I but ever recycle
The extravagant wealth and waste it created,
I wonder, knowing a natural order of recycle!

Remigius de Souza
16-18 October 2004

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© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

Samashti – The Collective

The Collective

In the war for freedom of individual
On the public place of settlement
The collective came to help / died;
In the war of Dependence – Independence
The interdependent came to help / died.


(Translation from the original Marathi by Remigius de Souza)


© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.