Down memory lane, I met the demon
Named “hurricane”
Galloping and breathing fire
On the horseback of tempest
Throwing the venom of insolence
And raining blows on mankind
It made civilization
Fall flat on its back
Descending from heavens
Iron-fisted and eyes burning charcoal
The demon dragged
And took out from earth
The hundred years old
Banyan tree before my house
As effortlessly as a small marigold plant
My eyes spread
Watching the devastation
Breaking the walls,
Enacting the Tandav of
Lord Shiva
The bender of deaths
Dead bodies of humans and cattle
Littered all over
As though the holocaust
Has come at length
Ah, now I tell you
The real truth
That I saw
Hope this would get repeated
In the aftermath of every disaster
An unparalleled event
Hitherto unknown to people crying
For help
In the throes of pain and death
The tale was of a picture
An image
Of my “Guru”
My spiritual master
My God
Whom I loved
Did not worship
And of a little
“Hibiscus Flower”
Placed at its top
I saw the civilization
Falling and as though
Breathing its last
The ferocious wind
Taking everyone in the
Fold of last punctuation
But the smiling mien of my “Guru”
And the little flower resting
On it
Without budging
Remained there throughout the
Entire devastation
Today, as
The years gone
Etched in my memory
The little “Hibiscus”
Reminds me time and again
That the roads, buildings
And mostly life and new creations
And gifts of new lease of life
Oh, not in the least
The hurricane was a killer
But a fresh beginning
A real transformation
