THE TROOPS DEVURING A BIG CITY

--------------------------------------------------
by deebachelvan

the days of carrying
Your baggages
have come again
the troops encircling
the big city
return with corpses.

what load are you carrying
on my old bicycle?
I left it the day
the troops entered
now you are using it
to cart my belongings.

the day snakes surrounded
the margosa tree
the day the mango tree
shed bullets
the courtyard was riddled
by firing.

the kid which lost its mother
in the shelling
is crouching
in the hole
under the guava tree.

since yesterday
the troops have been
gnawing the city
in whose dust
you used to roll

the town
where I used to roam
on my bike
has lost the feet
with no space to loaf
the paths under seege

float in the jungle
heads glued to baggages.

in the lakes
leading to our homes
lie the carcasses
of cattle
wells lie closed.

the tank approaches
bulldozing the recently
built town
the bagger
the pipelines
and the power supply
in the sky appears.

not the sun
but the heli
the dawn corree
through the smoke
rising from the bombs
oblivious of your wandering
without even water
I exist.
------------------------------------------
18.09.2008