Mother Nature

Wrote this for my cousin's cousin, who lives in Mumbai...

You would not want anything
To happen to the sea
If you stand still and listen
To the waves running, dying and being reborn
At night.

Yes, there is life on this earth
In things that do not breathe.
A grain of sand, apple lines, river stream
Homeless clouds, fields of green grass
Glistening, well aged rocks may seem silent at first
But they all speak the language
Of nature.

And then there are sounds
That rise and fall
Of the eagle perched on a branch
Sparrows that make a home
Tigers and Leopards that hunt and succeed
Lizards and snakes that always warn
And then proceed.

Tusks, skin, claws, teeth
Wood, food, shelter are not reasons enough
For us to kill and maim
Or trap everything that is beautiful and not ours
And must be used, no.
For a caged bird will only sing so much
Until it erupts
Like the lava in the fury of a volcano
Like poison in the acid showers and the air
Like the cold that shall soon surround us all.

Save them, because
The only thing that needs to be forgiven
Is us.