Listen,
Homo Economicus,
The rolling drum-beats
Of Lord Shiva;
The Compassionate One,
Is now angry, and
Manifests
In the fierce Rudra form,
The loud drum-beats
Distant, yet so near,
Terrible in sound
Like a
Wounded river
Roaring and pouncing,
The Rudra-Shiva,
In a dance pose;
His feet slowly
Stamping, and thus
Dislodging the
Silent rocks,
Cleaving roads and mountains;
His eyes are red,
In this mini Tandava Nritya
That shakes the holy terrain;
Terrible reverberations
Of the divine drum
Rock and
Dislodge the top soil,
And produce the slides;
There is death
And destruction
Everywhere;
His fury is finally unleashed,
Divine wrath visits
The sacred grounds,
Because you
Deliberately ignored
His earlier signs;
Listen to the rolling drum,
Now, at least,
And pay heed---
You, the dulled
Homo Economicus,
And do not annoy
The kind God further
By your unrestrained arrogance
And unlimited greed.
(Occasioned by the recent Uttarakhand disaster of June 16, 2013)
