Life in a Fast Lane

To be honest, we looked so pathetic.
A raggedly line of people
Not more than fifteen
Standing, disheveled
By the side of the busy city street
Holding placards
Asking not to cut down trees
As around us dust swirled,
Remains of the huge trees lay
The uprooted roots like
Splayed innards of a roadkill.

We said, ‘look, the trees are our heritage’.
We asked, ‘how dare you cut what you did not plant?’
We cried, ‘how can this cool shade cast a shadow
On your way to progress?’

Cars and bikes honked us to the brim of the ditches
Where once the roots had embraced the earth.
From behind the tinted glass
They looked at us briefly, mocking
Forgetting us in the next instant.

They say the trees have to be cut
For single lanes to grow into four lanes.
Later it may grow into six or more.
Trees, then paddy fields
Hills, then mountainsides
Ponds, then streams -
Earth will be savaged
They will build more roads, faster lanes
Express highways, super highways
In the hope they can reach faster -
When, actually they are only
Distancing themselves
From the earth.
**************** Balachandran, Trivandrum 03-01-2009