DREAMLAND / LANDREAM

o Deebachelvan ----------------------------------------

(Translated into English by Latha Ramakrishnan)

01

In the land that ceases to be yours with the tents of the dead
drawing closer and burning
throughout the day we are getting drenched in incessant fire.
As we remain helpless not being able to chase off the ‘ilaiyaangal’
that come to sit on our food and shit
they divert the roads that go to our small square of lands
With the roads laid by us remain closed
fresh new roads lead us to new camps.

We have grown thin
Voices wail for land.

At a distance where we can see clearly, unfolds
the Land of Children.
Right in front of our eyes
they steal and snatch away the blossoms of
coconut trees
the tender shoots and leaves

The wagons that take away heaps of sand and stones
whiz past us.
We have withered acutely.


02

Again and again landmines sprout out of our soil
In the night when the moon fails to come
countless landmines have shot up.
Whether the landmine would grow into a tree and give us ripe fruits?
So children shoot at us questions during night.

For planes to fly and to land,
For the money-spinning mills and plants to open
we are being turned into refugees again and again.
The tyrants and looters like our soil so much.
Children cry to sleep on the land

For having been born in these villages
the children are made to stay
in the space so full of the hot sun
This camp keeps its entrance wide-opened for ever.


03

Leaving through the gates of the camp that has no army
with riffles, where at all we are to go?
In these camps and those camps
opened and shut, opened and shut
The ways to the land are doubly blocked.
As we remain prisoners caged in our own land
our piece of land lies so close to us.
Children who throw away their tri-cycles
stand in readiness with one foot set forth
These children who long to return to their homes
are not afraid of the shells or the gun-shots.
And they refuse to get into any vehicles.

In the dream land the shadow of ghosts tries to spread and capture.
The children’s Dream Land stands like a furnace
In full view of us all
when our ancestral land is being hauled
are we to cover and shut tight our children’s eyes?
______________
07.08.2010

Shanthapuram people in Image