Afraid of the Earth
Heaping threat upon threat
Spreading fear upon fear
He himself got scared
Got scared of habitations
Of water and even schools
At last, he is afraid of his own shadow
He shuddered when wastelands turned into green fields
A seed blossomed into a plant in the furrow
The rights of plants that waved with the wind
Youngsters made him afraid
Their imaginations
Their dreams
And their pens, everything made him fearful
He went on imprisoning freedom
And finally appalled at the sound of chains
Trembled at the sight of forest
And the adivasi in the woods
He spilled blood from the singing bamboo
And threatened the flowing Godavari
With fear he fired at the vision
Shot dead words and silences
He bumped off the soul
Afraid, he killed those who do not fear death
Afraid of the martyrs
He even destroyed memorial columns with dynamite
If you blow off the lamps and
Erase the sweet memories of the lamps
Will the symbol of struggle go off?
What will happen to this earth
Which gave life to that symbol?
This earth
Becoming dark as the lights put off
Dejected at the demise of Sun
Getting heated up with the burning villages
Provoked by the destruction of memorial columns
What will happen to this earth?
The place where only yesterday
People moved about,
Martyrs fell down and
Memorial column rose
With fear he leveled the ground and cleaned
Turned it into graveyard and posted armed guards
But still, the earth is there, isn't it?
What will that earth say?
(After hearing and reading about the destruction spree of the police
who destroyed the memorial columns at Pydipalli and Indravelli with dynamites)
December 13, 1985
Translated by N Venugopal