The Nature's Child
THE NATURE’S CHILD!
Defying fate, freedom denied,
Confined within the four-walled cage,
Safeguarded from the Autumn wind and sun,
Shining bright beyond my reach!
The scriptures decide the societal pace,
The learned men clench the reins,
At the altar of the parochial world,
The dreams, the desires crucified!
No escorts nor playmates, orphaned by fate,
The body fragile, organs at loggerheads,
Hoping against the faintest hope,
Shielding from the out of doors!
The only solace, the window open,
Glimpsing briefly the beauty unknown,
The tails-up squirrels picking the broken lentils
With their wee hands, crunching munching!
Wish I were a squirrel small,
Lovely wouldn’t it be,
Let me go about and out,
The book-learned doctor knows not a thing!
This toiling moiling at the books,
Having eyes for nothing else,
I would rather be in the nature,
And see everything that there is!
See that faraway hill I often wish to go beyond,
Because the earth can’t speak a word,
It raises its hands into the sky,
And beckons in the form of a hill!
Farther shall I tread the path,
To where the water flows under the fig tree,
Then soak my gram-four, moisten it,
Relish, crossing the bubbling stream!
My face is pale, dark rings around,
Veins stick out from my poor thin hands,
The physical weak, the vital’s strong,
One day I’ll go marching around!
Time’s not yet come,
Or has it gone by,
Time waits for none,
But forever goes on!
I wish to fly with time to that land,
Of which no one knows,
One greater force, the greatest of all,
Comes and smoothly lets us free!
Picking flowers from the topmost branch,
Barging into the densest forest,
Where the honey sipping humming bird rocks,
I shall blossom into a champa!
To the Parrot’s Isle, the haunt of the birds,
Glorious land by some sea among the glowing hills,
Like molten diamonds, the waterfalls sing,
How I wish I were a bird perched up high!
The disappearing pain, the twinkling stars,
The King’s postman down the hillside climbs,
Reaching to the open meadow among the chirping crickets,
I feel him coming nearer and nearer!
I’ll ask the King for the polar star,
I’ll ask Him to make me His postman,
I shall then wander far and wide,
Delivering His message from door to door!
Blow out the light,
Let the starlight stream in,
Sit by my pillow, I’m dropping asleep,
Blow out the oil-lamp…Hush….I sleep!
|