Did an earthquake strike the capital?
a poem by R.A. Jacob
Did an earthquake strike the capital?
Or a tornado just visited this land
Why are people living in tin sheds?
I simply can’t understand.
These people weren’t rocked by an earthquake
Nor tornado tarnished their land
They are victims of a cruel economy
So hence in slums, they land.
Victims of calamities
Have pity of some
Lo for victims of urbanization
No never, not even once.
They remind me of nomads
Who moves from land to land?
Yet their own possessions
To a mere decimal stand.
When an earthquake or tornado
Shakes or tarnishes a land
The world wakes from its slumber
And as a guardian angel stands.
Yet for slum dwellers
For them, it sleeps
She has plugged her ears
It can’t hear them shriek.
These are topics of Newspapers
These are an inspiration for pen
That’s used by poets
Just now and then.
