The Drought

by Ravinder Malhotra

Light began its merry dance
On windswept dry parched land
To herald another fiery day
And scorch the air and sand

On broken twigs the morning dew
That gathered through the night
Vanished with the rising sun
And as the day grew bright

The eagle took to wing on air
That rose with the heat
To glide on currents high above
In majestic retreat

Surveying for miles below
For death that was for some
From thirst, hunger and fatigue
Waiting patiently to come

Water holes that teemed with life
Once varied, big and small
Lay with crusted bottoms now
Till the next rainfall

Crocs that ruled the waters once
Into hibernation retreat
To sleep and surface once again
And beat the summer heat

Trees soaked what little moist
Their nimble roots could try
To help trunk and bark retain
And let them not go dry

Shorn of leaves the barren trees
Rose lifeless from the ground
No mercy showed the thirsty wind
Nor the heat around

In trunk holes, nested families
Of the tawny owls
Weary, fed and resting
From nocturnal prowls

Three full years the owls preyed
On dwindling rats and snakes
Leaner breeds each year they fed
From fields and dried up lakes

But each day the anthills grew
Higher all around
Red ants brimmed in them to full
On sun baked lifeless ground

Nature in its bosom keeps
The signs of life in gloom
Not all is lost in patient wait
For it again to bloom

15-Nov-2009

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