Two Leaves On a Stump

Two Leaves On A Stump
(A tribute to Indira Gandhi’s leadership and her valiant struggle against
the fascists written a few months after her defeat in the election)

“The deeper I reach 
The higher I rise,
Hark the birds 
How they sing in my arms”

     “We are men of the surface
    We will be kings
      Down with the despotic tree,
    Is there no law in the land?”

“The deeper I reach
The higher I rise.
Hark the birds 
How they sing and the cows
They worship my shade.”

   “Chhi,the noise and the droppings,
    Besides they trample and peck at us.
    Look at our flowers
    Bigger,brighter than hers.
    We are men of the surface 
    We will be kings.
    Is there no law in the land?
    Can one tree smother the rest?
    Look for the Achille’s heel,
    Down with the despotic tree.

A resounding crash,
What a pitiable sight,
The fall was as great as the height
And the men of the surface for almost a month
They danced madly around in joy;
The cows and the birds joining
In the general rejoicing;
What deception they cried
 So tall and so weak
We nearly died.

Two leaves on a stump
Freshly sprouted,shaped like a ‘V’,
Still singing,still sighing,
“The deeper we reach
The higher we rise,”
And some among men
Whose roots went a bit deeper
Half drunk with the victory they had won
Half frightened of what they had done.

Copyright © Noman Hamza | Year Posted 2013

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