Root

Walking down the smooth lane Of big cities I still feel the country air That I have left a decade ago in my face; The dead dog by the road side Reminds me of the lizard we used to Throw stones at and kill under the trees; I could smell the cowdung in the exhaust Fumes of vehicles running past me; I have brought with me all those smells And fragrances the dead lotus and morning Flowers give to stay alive in this pell-mell Of hate, robbery, hunger and ugliness; I have in me the scent of my mother’s womb too To beat the stench coming out the rotten Blood of the beggar woman ran over by a bus; I have to live to keep alive to feel the soil When I pace the marble floor of the flat And wish I should not have been born there To stay alone and get humiliated here.