The new parliament house
em = By Subhash Jaireth
em = (translated from the Hindi)
First
the hill was cut
with explosives
bulldozers
and perforators.
Then
her brown wound was stuffed
with iron
stones and glass.
Then
her shoulders arms and thighs
were planted with green grass
and soil dragged by trucks.
Then
the fountains were arranged
and the wind ordered to blow.
The green grass
bound in the precise geometry
lost the language of sparrows,
sunshine and all the shadows.
The green grass
growing green and more green
lost the wild dreams of forests.
Then
the green grass received bribes —
flowers leaves and climbers,
and
the lamp-posts were dug in,
the lamps fixed and the neon
chandeliers hanged.
The house was built
The hill snubbed
the green grass cut
and the new grass
sentenced for life.
You know
that old hill: that was I
this new hill also is I
the wild grass was I
and this captive grass
also I
For how long
who knows?