15th August,1998 In India

My sleep got disturbed, thrice that day; I could not sleep tho’ a holiday; My mind was filled with thoughts unclear; I got up in the morn, much earlier; ‘Twas India’s Independence Day! Thunder, lightning filled the night’s Sky; The day much overcast did fly; The Rain was just a drizzle that day; Wetted the ground of mud and clay; ‘Twas 15th of August, a rainy day. The pea-birds howled and groaned that night; The Rain made them shiver with fright; Though ten, it looked like six in the morn; The Sun behind the clouds had gone; The Sky ground-glass remained that day. The leaky tap-waters that fell, Raised wavelets, ploppy-toned and swell; Rain-drops on cables looked like pearls; Dropped, formed again, enticing souls; It looked it would rain long that day. Rain-drops hanging beneath fir-twigs; Glittered in the scarce light like figs; The whole tree was aglow, alit; A thing of beauty, don’t miss it! The Sky looked like a barred-white board! A frail, brown-skinned, bony human, With sack on head, bent-back, he ran! The Indian was agonizing! Tho’ people keep sermonizing! Fifty years after Independence! What good was done for the common-man?