WHAT HAPPENED ?

                                        (  I  )

                              What happened to this beautiful city?

                              All her broad streets appear now too shrunken

                              Squeezed in by many tall multi-storied mansions

                              Not an inch of space left free for air to flow

                              The city crushed by teeming millions of people

                              Choked by so many poisonous vapors

                              Seems a chaos of speeding vehicles

                              Congested with long heavy traffic jams

                               Hours of waiting exhaust their patience

                               And set their nerves on fire; none cared

                               For traffic rules and impending risks; 

                                 

                               Their goal only to overtake others

                               Caring not at all for fatal mishaps.

                                Driving helter-skelter with reckless feats.

                               The roads turned death-traps with broken trenches and pits

                                With shattered limbs and broken vehicles

                                None cared to stop and help the bleeding men;

                                The drivers click only snaps with frigid stony hearts

                                Exulting in catching real blood-soaked scenes

                                                                       

                                                 

                                                                ( I  I  )

                                 What happened to their inward human feelings?

                                 Once noble hearts did serve in selfless ways

                                 Helping the poor and needy persons a lot

                                 Founding big hospitals, shelters and schools

                                 Planning vast parks, playgrounds and shady trees

                                 Big lakes, wells and ponds filled with water pure

                                 True honesty coupled with kindly acts

                                 Made this place once a peaceful center of bliss;

                                 No cunning cruel acts upset the rhythm of life

                                 No greedy vice robbed ; no cheating tactics;

                                 Now safety and security nowhere seen

                                 Our daily papers thrive on sensational news

                                 Building mountains out of trivial things;

                                 Duping others now seems a daily pastime  

                          

                                 An unprecedented rise in various crimes

                                 Of murders, rapes,robberies and strikes.

                                 The dividing line between man and brute

                                  Vanishing, Alas! Who is to blame?

                                                         (  I  I  I  )

                                 What happened to her rivers and lakes?

                                 Once happy places with many clean stepped Ghats

                                 Where people swam with pleasure through waters pure

                                 Now turned to stagnant weed-grown pits

                                 With loads of contaminated chemicals foul

                                 And drainage pipes ejecting sewage stuff

                                 Storehouses of all diseases with swelling foam

                                 Shrunken by land-grabbers and dusty garbage fills

                                 In thousands these lakes existed in past 

                                 Esteemed as the pride and grace of this city 

                                 Now changed to dirty cesspools and septic tanks.

                                                              (  I  V  )

                                What happened to her lofty hills and vacant lands?

                                Bludgeoned to death by digging land sharks vile

                                Even temple stones now turned to building blocks

                                Our heritage proud gone to rubble and dust

                                Neglected lie old forts and monuments in shambles

                                With crumbling walls as dens for vicious men ;

                                No concern for glory and rich tradition

                                Many lands encroached and destroyed by looting folk

                                None to restrain and protect these structures great

                                Ruined by time and dug by treasure hunters.

                                                             (  V  )

                               What happened to her green spaces and wilds?

                               Once praised as a happy paradise

                               Now wears a bare deserted dreary look;

                               Gigantic trees with wide-spread branches

                               Now felled to dust by cruel mechanical tools

                               To build lifeless structures blocking light and air

                               An easy task to kill these precious gifts of Nature

                               How many years it needs to see these lofty trees

                               That give cool shade and purify the air;

                               Does development mean robbing nature green?

                               Does it mean indiscriminate destruction?

                               The vast lands filled with industries and flats

                               Turned this once happy place to a concrete jungle

                               Polluted with dust, sounds and poisonous air

                               Not a patch of ground left for men to walk with peace

                               Or for children to play on grassy lawns;

                               Those pretty gardens lost and the green spaces gone

                               And heaps of garbage infecting  villages too ;

                                                            (  V  I  )

                               What happened to colorful birds and beasts around?

                               Forests destroyed by expanding urban bounds

                               Lost their inhabitants too killed by men;

                               Just for their skin, meat, nails and feathers;

                               Many species became extinct and what more remain

                               Lead a wretched life with lurking dangers;

                               Sans shelter, water and food to survive;

                               Sheer promises hover like clouds above

                               Shedding no drop of rain with cunning show

                               Fooling the public for their own personal ends

                               Our leaders thrive in shady crooked deals

                               Our votes bartered for petty paper notes

                               Once elected none cares about our weal ;

                               Our ruling trends none contemplates to mend ;

                               Our cities stink with many unsolved problems

                               With narrow roads, potholes and foul clogged drains.

                               What happened to this beautiful city?

                               Once a true haven for spacious space and peace.

                                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

              1st September, 2018                          Somaseshu Gutala

                                            

THE DESERTED TREE

                     

                   

                     1)          Alone like a lonely pilgrim yonder stood

                                    A tall, lean tree with crooked arms

                                    Not a trace of green, but dry barren wood

                                    Many,many years sapped his leafy charm

                                    Like an old wrecked vessel in raging storm

                                    Alone it stood from tip toe full brown

                                    Not a clump of green leaves adorned his crown.

                   2)            Who cares to see such barren dreary sight?

                                    No western wind approached with rustling sound

                                    No butterfly fluttered with pinions bright

                                    No graceful creeper to hug him around;

                                    No prop to bear his bending weight from ground

                                    In death-like silence like a ruined fortress grim

                                   A dreadful hag  seen in sinister dreams.

                 3)             No bird or beast for shade and shelter came

                                  No playful monkeys swing on branches bare

                                  Marks of stormy gale dented his weary frame

                                  A mute witness to many things, with none to share

                                  His grey-gone past who hears, no time to spare !

                                  His seasoned strength withstood so many storms

                                  So many blows he bore with sturdy arms

                 4)            His sinewy roots searched deep into the ground

                                 To touch the nourishing springs beyond our sight

                                 Still rooted firm like a mountain sound      

                                 Struggling alone under the scorching light ;

                                 Despite his age, trusting in Nature’s might

                                 His branching arms outstretched into the sky

                                 As if he nursed still aspirations high.   

                 5)           Like an old man left in his humble cot

                                Absorbed in woes and joys of events past

                                Engulfed in solitude and silence fraught ;

                                Like a lonely sailor in windy tempests caught

                                And thrown like junk on God-forsaken shore

                                Where no voice heard but turbulent ocean’s roar.

            6)               Standing alone like a pillar carved in sandstone

                               Of some dilapidated temple old

                               Like a camel in dry desert alone

                               Exposed to winds of blazing fire and cold

                               The tree stood firm like a prophet bold ;

                               Cut off from worldly bonds of suffocating hold

                               Steadfast like an altar for all to behold.

                            **********************************************

              28th August, 2018                                 Somaseshu Gutala

           

Note : This poem is written in "Rhyme Royal " a stanzaic form with rhyme scheme "ABAB BCC". This verse form borrowed from the French verse was first used in English language by Geoffrey Chaucer in his narrative poems "Troilus and Criseyde" and in "The Parlement of Foules". William Wordsworth used this form in his famous poem"Resolution and Independence".

  Ref :  Nurse =care for ;  Cot = a simple cottage (Archaic)

  Altar = A platform where sacrifices are offered; a holy place.

  It suggests the noble selfless service of the old tree.

The Snake that Went Unscathed

           

           

                                                                               
                                       


                                                                       (  I  )

               

                         From yonder rain-filled chink in the compound wall

                         A long head peeped straight with dark glistening eyes

                         Her long lithe body’s dark-stripes half-hid and half-seen

                         Her sharp tongue like lightning darted now and then

                         Her language went above our human minds –too vague

                         Like foolish chaps with anxious faces we watched

                         Waiting for her to come out of her shelter dark

                         Some came with long sticks to teach her a lesson

                         For entering the place transgressing her bounds ; 
 

                         Some came with folded hands to show their devotion

                         Some stood at cautious distance watching the show

                         Some mumbled prayers to gratify the serpent-goddess;

                         Some dwelt on events past with dramatic gestures

                         About vengeful snakes with magical powers;

                         Some spoke of her huge length by stretching hands;

                         Some heard her hissing sound with dangerous portents

                         Some ran for the priest to exorcise the evil creature

                         Some suggested a snake-catcher’s support;

                         Some cursed the state for lack of civic concern.

                                                   ( I  I  )

                        Securely coiled herself in a dark crevice

                        The snake found herself in a tight corner

                         Facing a critical life-and –death crisis;

                         Not finding a place in concrete jungle

                         Driven from post to pillar, this place she found

                         But now to save her own dear life from crushing sticks

                         She strove with all her might and speed 

                         Uncoiled her length and slipped at once in dark

                         Like a thief with a sense of guilty hush

                         Into a gutter as people chattered in vain;

                         One lady squeaked – “Snake,snake! Behold there went

                         Oh, not a cobra with a dark mark on its hood

                         Non-poisonous type—perhaps a water-snake;

                         Her dark brown stripes removed our seething poison

                         The snake went soon unscathed in slithering curves

                         Far from the madding crowd with notions strange

                         Thanking her stars for not being beaten to death

                       Or worse for not being adored by men

                     For not being killed with blind devotion.

                         

                          ****************************************************

                    22nd August, 2018                                          Somaseshu Gutala