Pridhvi and We

PRIDHVI AND WEtc "PRIDHVI AND WE"

You never think twice, never hang

To cater to our needs, our benign mother
Ungrudgingly, quite generously you give
To us your children, many a boon

You feed us with your bounteous crops
You quench our thirsts with waters sweet
You give us fibres to clothe ourselves
You provide fires to keep us warm.

You bless us with things rich and sundry
Roots and nuts, fruit and honey
You feast our eyes with flowers and colours
Rills and plains, hills and vales

But mother we do not deserve you;
You make us rich, we turn you poor
You create beauty, we generate filth;
You shower kindness, we return death.

We are such ingrates as try to devour you
We are such fools as would destroy you
We turn out your bowels for the yellow metal
We drill into your heart for gaseous oil

We squeeze out your sap with the three-month crop
We cut off your nerves by felling trees
We suck away your blood by burning wood;
You give us sustenance, we take away your essence.

You are justified mother in every way
When you thunder through the stormy winds
When you rage and blaze in the oil wells
When you erase hutments and fields in floods

For we have no temperance, no reason, no judgement
We are educated asses, worse than savages
Mother you can satisfy our needs
But who will satiate our greeds?