Human and Animals

This poem is entered for Monday Poetry Potluck at Jingle Poetry and the theme for this week is Nature: Plants, Creatures and the Cosmos.

Picture for WordsWorthMillions

Unsurprisingly in the country
silence, animals, nature and human
live in harmony
unsurprisingly in the country
exotic birds stay perched on roads
undisturbed by human presence
unsurprisingly in the country
deers continue grazing in the dark
un-threatened by vehicles’ head lights
unsurprisingly in the country
monkeys park near the roadside
watching human activities
while humans watch them all
unsurprisingly this will soon be a lost world
where human will fight for survival
animals will fight for survival
surprisingly knowing
that existence of both is essential
for the existence of the other

[Despite the threat to wildlife, our country still enjoy all these scene without having to visit zoos (there are hardly any zoo in the country) and the ‘hazy’ picture here was taken from a distance as not to disturb the birds. ]

That Life, That World

An unlit traditional Bhutanese Hearth, abandoned in an old house

Come and sit by me
I will tell you a story or two
of the days when world was different
when birds flew freely
when rivers flowed clear
when the clouds moved to grace the blue sky
when the moon shone the brightest in the night sky
when little boys and little girls played into dark
safely
of the times when strangers smiled at each other
when a young person stopped to help an old lady
of the times when mothers suckled her child at her breast
when fathers took his children to play a game or two in the fields
of times when grandfathers and grandchildren sat by the hearth
while grandmothers cooked, and shared centuries-old stories of values and love
when man loved his woman the way she should be
when woman warmed her bed only with her man
when children held their old parents in their arms
when students bowed to their teachers in reverence
of the times when happiness wasn’t paid for
when wars were avoided
of times when human were humane
when animals were treated as a member of the family
life was different
I lived that life, in that world

Lost Childhood

Image from Google

He holds it close to his chest
his tiny fingers ready on the trigger
he must have rained
more bullets than the number
of hours he walked the earth
the fearless eyes
deeper
than the dark well
swallows the untold
unheard tales
of an unseen childhood
of lost innocence
among bloodshed
and
unquenchable greed of human
made
him wade in his mother’s blood
and feed on his father’s flesh
alas! He is a human child.

[Inspired by a television ad on diamond mining in Africa.]