“through the act of living, the discovery of oneself is made concurrently with the discovery of the world around us. . ."

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

The Aquarian









‘I am tired’, thought he, as he poured

‘Where has it all gone, the sweet waters

That glinted silver in the morning sun

That glistened in the pale moon light

That I carried from afar and gave

So that men and beasts and plants

And the dry crumbling earth may thrive

So that life may spark in them

So that Thy creations shall not grieve!’


Wiping sweat off his brow

He paused as he heard a voice.

He raised his head, looked up

As he saw a vision.


Clouds parted before him –

Above, in the sky,

The clouds drew a painting.


Men, the Aquarian saw

Had fouled the waters with filth.

Poisons spread, laying waste the fish

Wetlands were filled with soil

Seas turned red in oil

Trees were felled

Rivers were dammed

Ponds were killed

Birds were dead

Beasts, bloated, floated dead

In the sweet and clear water

That now turned an angry black.


Clouds closed up the sky –

Then a wind blew, howling

And it rained black, red blood.


Beside him kneeled the last child of earth

Huddling, hugging the last green plant.

************* Balachandran V, Trivandrum 22.02.2010


This is a 'commissioned' poem. I was asked to give a poem for a magazine's special issue on water. The poem may undergo deletion/alterations , though I submitted it since the deadline had arrived. It is kind of 'contrived' - I don't like it much, myself!

4 comments:

  1. its not bad at all!!!.. i like the end... must have been a different experience writing on commission! a different sort of challenge.

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  2. Need to read it again and again to understand this fully.
    Between which is the magazine?

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  3. Thanks, K! I don't like challenges! But the theme is quite close to my heart; one could write pages and pages about nature and environment, but poetry brings out the most condensed form and sometimes conveying more too.

    @Subbu:The magazine is called 'Executive Knowledge Lines' or EKL for short. I will send you a couple of .pdf versions of earlier issues. Its more or science and technology; I provide a small element of nature conservation etc..

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  4. @ subbu: Is it obtuse? Aquarius is the water carrier symbol in Zodiac (Jan18-Feb 19 -my star, a coincidence). He is lamenting about what humans have done with this precious element. The rest is just a poetic imagination..

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