PRASANNA KUMARI

PrASANNA

KUMARI

WAR

The mother sitting on the rubble haunts me to doom

A child in her lap sucking the dried-up breast fills my eyes to gloom

With half-veiled face filled with misery

She rummages for a piece of life in the debris

And her eyes emptied of life look to the distant horizon

Numb, dumb and grief-stricken

Crushed ,crumbled and totally thrashed.....

She clings to life to wipe her child’s tears

A soldier in arms- pathetic, helpless

Made to fight for the maniac’s fancies

Forlorn hopes, fallen martyrs

What do they fight for? Or for whom?

Two little eyes searching for father

Two little ears listening to missiles

Two little legs running for life

What do they gain in victory or defeat?

A widow on the blood-stained body

Wailing   to bring him back to life

A mother with forlorn hopes

Weeping in vain for him

A father with unshed tears

Children with insecure future

Is it all we get from war?

Listen to the rumbling in the distance.....

Painful sigh for a missing brother

Desperate search for a ruined sister

Loud groaning of a lonely child

Heaving sigh of a widowed heart

Call of hunger? Thirst? For shelter?

The mysterious rustling of the refugees

The moving legs walking to infinity

With dim, lighted lantern and tight grip of little fingers.

Is it not war that destroyed them?

Is it not hatred that crumbled their life?

Is it not bloodshed that crippled them?

Is it not cruelty that numbed their spirit?

Is it not pride that initiates war?

Is it not greed that ignites enmity?

Is it not jealousy that destroys nations?

Where are the Gods?  In Hell or in Heaven?

Prostrate at your feet, my tears soak your feet

Allah! Jesus! Krishna!

Come out  of the book or the altar of the church

Step out  of the temple and the mosque

Walk among us in flesh and blood

Chanting words of love and kindness

Filling our hearts with affection and sympathy

Teaching us the meaning of sacrifice

To live together- a life of peace and happiness.

Prasanna Kumari

INDIA