Tears Cannot Wet A Barren Land

A little soil, a little sky , a little water cannot become an earth. Putting together the elements will not inspire life. Normality cannot be achieved by perfection.Yet if any of these is found missing the results are jarring.
When the fake encounters by the police in gujarat and various other states came to fore, I felt betrayed by the very elements that constitute the society. Kausar Bi and Sohrabuddin would be lost in the newspaper archives, but the killing of innocents is symptomatic of a larger disease, a more virulent fear. The fear of being buthchered by the one we seek protection from.We neednt have the best laws, the most righteous officers or the most compliant public.What we need is to be humane.
I give vent in verse..........

The night clouds are menacingly low
I can sense their breath
Hitting hard onto my dank cheeks
It smells of a wild wolf.


I hear it howl again
It must be somewhere near
I only draw myself close
If only you were here...


I await your return nervy and strung
Its hard to take alone
The heat of prying eyes
I can hear only hoarse cries


I lisp my morning prayers
In a familiar shudder
The flowers in the garden are trampled away
The ground holds a print of paws freshly laid


Is that sound a howl again?
The wolf in its daytime prowl
Or why ,it is you !
Your footsteps altered and strange


You walk in and say nothing at all
Only put your lips to mine
And pay no notice to my asking eyes
I am left to see blood dripping from your scythe.


9.5.07