A Poem in Two Languages: Ancient and Modern
Saligrama K. Aithal
The world doesn’t see why and when a war breaks out
In a way it remains blind,
Until armies collect in the battlefields
One facing the other with the beating of drums
And waving of weapons
And cries of shoot and kill fill the air to the skies
When it is too late to do anything
Except watch from sunrise to sunset day after day
The progress of war extending to years,
If really blind like Dhritarastra who could,
Only hear the shouts and cries from the battlefield
And from the narrative from Sanjaya, sitting by his side, --
The blind King’s charioteer,
With the divine gift of Divya Drishti given him by poet Vyasa, --
He learnt every small detail of the progress of war
Between his one hundred children
And five children of his half-brother Pandu--
The latter really spiritual children of Pandu, --
For their share of kingdom, when even an inch of land denied them,
Whoof!
***
Our physical and mental illnesses today
Join their hands to settle old scores, --
Either by action or thought,
Carelessly or deliberately, --
Forgotten by either one or the other, --
A convenient opportunity opening, --
Switches off the decreasing light
Of the show of loving care
Or starts a proxy war
To settle old scores,
Like the one between Israel and Hamas of Palestine,
Jews on the one side
And Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthis, on the other, --
With the blessings, protection/ support/ promptings,
Offered openly or secretly by the outside agents
Bearing a grudge against whichever side
Like the aches and pains in body and mind
One causing pains to the other,
The patient unable to make out,
Even the best of doctors unable to diagnose and cure,
And save their patient from the ultimate catastrophe--
It is for you to guess from what and how? --
In the meantime, the war goes on like the clock
More countries and people join the war
The war goes on until the hands of the clock stop ticking
And suddenly stand still.
In a way it remains blind,
Until armies collect in the battlefields
One facing the other with the beating of drums
And waving of weapons
And cries of shoot and kill fill the air to the skies
When it is too late to do anything
Except watch from sunrise to sunset day after day
The progress of war extending to years,
If really blind like Dhritarastra who could,
Only hear the shouts and cries from the battlefield
And from the narrative from Sanjaya, sitting by his side, --
The blind King’s charioteer,
With the divine gift of Divya Drishti given him by poet Vyasa, --
He learnt every small detail of the progress of war
Between his one hundred children
And five children of his half-brother Pandu--
The latter really spiritual children of Pandu, --
For their share of kingdom, when even an inch of land denied them,
Whoof!
***
Our physical and mental illnesses today
Join their hands to settle old scores, --
Either by action or thought,
Carelessly or deliberately, --
Forgotten by either one or the other, --
A convenient opportunity opening, --
Switches off the decreasing light
Of the show of loving care
Or starts a proxy war
To settle old scores,
Like the one between Israel and Hamas of Palestine,
Jews on the one side
And Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthis, on the other, --
With the blessings, protection/ support/ promptings,
Offered openly or secretly by the outside agents
Bearing a grudge against whichever side
Like the aches and pains in body and mind
One causing pains to the other,
The patient unable to make out,
Even the best of doctors unable to diagnose and cure,
And save their patient from the ultimate catastrophe--
It is for you to guess from what and how? --
In the meantime, the war goes on like the clock
More countries and people join the war
The war goes on until the hands of the clock stop ticking
And suddenly stand still.
Saligrama K. Aithal is a writer, scholar, and a literary critic with 40+ years of teaching/ research background at the college/university levels, advantage of education and job experience in two Worlds, the East and the West. He has published his creative writing and articles in scholarly international journals on a wide range of authors and topics.
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