The Olden Banyan Tree

The banyan tree, Olden banyan tree, The aerial roots of it Spreading over As the canopy up above And some roots hanging down, Some struck down into earth And like the solid mid pillars And the birds nestled Making a noise, A landmark it was in the past, But now the similar-appearing highway With the place name Denoting And the banyan tree often chopped off As for road and building And ever new construction on the anvil. Still the forgotten wayfarers come And pause by Under the shade, The cool shade of it to rest, Still cattle and people come to, But the saints I find them not, Not even the folks saying with lustre The same awesome tales sometimes, Sometimes attributing to religious stories, But the tree in its archetypal natural stride of own In the ancestral hamlet.