Lake and stream, Chinar and blossom / All sing a dirge as though
The Paradise belonged wholly now / To the elegy of the weeping willow
PROF BADRI RAINA | Caravan Daily
Is this now a paradise lost
To an ancient contention?
A clanging of frozen wills
Where all is lost and nothing won?
Relentless crones in safe enclaves
Send nubile angels to war
Against an uncaring distant state
That seems light years afar.
Spots of blood on haunted streets
Invite the lurking vulture;
Windows barred in dread and shame
Protect a beleaguered culture.
Faces pelleted with holes
Are stoic in hopeless time;
Flesh and bone come apart
But spirits scream a defiant rhyme.
Love, trust, and covenant
Seem powerless to leap
The contest for ownership
Even if the price be fatally steep,
Lake and stream, Chinar and blossom
All sing a dirge as though
The Paradise belonged wholly now
To the elegy of the weeping willow.
