Groundlings

by Sunil Sharma / March 27th, 2016

We are still here!
Your bulldozers flattened the shanties
Threw away our meagre belongings in the drive
Against the dispossessed, sparing the rich.
We are back!
There is no roof
No walls here.
Like seeds, we grow everywhere.
Cops will come and shoo us away
But again, night, we will return and reclaim
The dusty ground—because we are the groundlings!
Our homes do not add to pollution, as do their gadgets.
Just a pale bulb and a common tap, no wastage!
Hard work and sound sleep—envy of others!
Why do you keep on driving us outwards?
We can sleep under the stars, under a welcoming tree.
Our life is a public spectacle watched by the motorists, gleefully.
After 68 years, we remain perpetual wanderers, homeless, in our own country!
But we no longer care, because we are not going to get justice.
We—the children of the earth and sky
A lean and muscular tribe
We will survive this long demolition drive and other violent nights
Of the sick metro!

Sunil Sharma PhD (English): An academic, critic, literary editor and author with 30 published books, solo and joint: Eight collections of poetry; five of short fiction; two novels; a critical study of the novel, and, 11 co-edited anthologies on prose, poetry and criticism; two joint poetry books and one joint fiction collection. A recipient of the UK-based Destiny Poets’ Inaugural Poet of the Year award---2012. Winner, among others, of the Panorama Golden Globe Award-2023, and, Nissim Award for Excellence-2022 for the political novel Minotaur. His poems were published in the UN project Happiness, The Delight-Tree: An Anthology of Contemporary International Poetry, in the year 2015. Read other articles by Sunil, or visit Sunil's website.

This article was posted on Sunday, March 27th, 2016 at 8:03am and is filed under Poetry.