How Green Was My Patrimony!

My only patrimony is the clump of trees

And as friends, I have little creatures who are my knees.

Although I'm an octogenarian, I feel agile because:

I hear the apes gibber and bears growl

Foxes yelp and jackals howl

Parrots talk and sparrows twitter

Swallows twitter and squirrels chatter

Elephants trumpet and wolves howl

Lions roar and tigers growl

Amidst all the sounds is the melodious mother-croon of a bird singing to her son

Heard in the twilight when sap and leaf and wood all become a human

But, on one unusual day, during the cries and heaves:

I heard the rustle of leaves

The unusual thundering of clouds

The panic creeping into me knew no bounds!

The howling and roaring of the wind

The creaking of shoes which got pinned

The chattering of teeth

The clanging of hammers from beneath

Made a hundred-year-old Gulmohar tree to fall

Within seconds, the Sun and the sky lost all their friends

The trees destined to fade one day were forced that day to meet their ends

The greedy humans destroyed the seed and bud of days to be

The selfish humans left many birds shelterless on the bare tree

The suffocating smoke engulfed the precious forest's heritage

They did not let the unborn eyes to enjoy the harvest of a coming age

They turned my patrimony into a deserted barren land

Depriving me of my wealth, they reduced it to sand

As I walk today, on the soft sand slippering beneath my feet

I cherish the old good memories

I still remember the nights when the mourning moon takes off her veil

The cool pleasant breeze starts to feel

The black bats leap on the back of the trade winds, soft through the cool shade

And floating over the blanket of grey clouds which will soon fade

And soak their wings in the galaxy of small speckle of stars

But as I come back to the present situation and look around myself today

I find the sky above me says:

"Child, once I used to shower upon here a tender rain,

To beautify the environment and glorify this plain

But over the years, I have been choked by bad air

It seems as if it's beyond my capacity to make conditions fair.

This is what I had to say. TAKE CARE!"

Staring at the sky solemnly, I asked:

"Are humans so selfish and greedy?"

"So poor and needy?"

But the Home of Heaven chose to keep quiet.