ZEN

 

ZEN

 

Born after independence, lucky,

Came to know much later the past,

Chained ancient land once rich,

Prosperous in cultural traditions,

Temples, festivals, celebrations,

Tying the country huge with its signature,

Devastated for millennia in fight rivalry,

Culminated with Muslim invasion,

Rulers mutilated ancient faith,

Destroyed temples, universities, customs,

Converted rest killed, people in fear,

Perpetual Zen lost for good, life in slavery,

Mercilessly exploited changed times,

Mughal under the grave, colonial rule expand,

The subject of an island people bled,

Scrapped to bone skeletal existence,

Famished a people unable to fight,

Land of Buddha lost Zen lacking sadly,

In my childhood, we sang the anthem proudly,

Loving the tricolor symbol of independence,

Symbol of freedom, land liberated,

Chains of slavery dismantled, reality,

Youth adulthood time witness Zen,

Confidence in equal rights, free people’s voices,

Exchanged opinion of parent grandparent,

Valuable than diamond liberty, visible,

Peaceful the nation growing faster,

Removing age-old miseries, evil practices,

Reformation took place, education linking,

Rustic life saw knowledge unfolding,

School, college, hospitals, village roads,

Industries visible expanding city-wide,

Automobile, radio, then television reality,

Twilight years, I watch the digital age,

Surprised, artificial intelligence in action,

Changing cyberspace, mobile technology,

Life performing online executes jobs,

Phenomenal transport, travel fast,

Highrise towers, underground rail,

Flyover highways over buildings, busy,

Railways spider net covers country,

Media unimaginable magnitude reality,

Instantly travels the globe, rich remote,

Phenomenal modernization, paradigm change,

Zen is missing, a mind materialistic,

Seeking physical pleasure, luxury,

Definition of comfort lives changing,

Hungry for resources of the earth, vanishing,

Vanished forests, green hills mined,

Fertile lands changed to arid sandy soil,

Water air is polluted, poisonous,

Sick present generation virus newborn,

Killing the entire globe, mutating fast,

Fails immunity, the world confined,

Under quarantine, compulsory mask,

Fearful life fears death lurking invisible,

Evil zeitgeist, breeding terror, jihad,

Kill innocent, unaware gun blazing,

Bursting mortar, grenade, slitting the throat,

Human believes invisible God is direct,

Kill, kill the human race, eliminate cruelly,

A byproduct of the modern age, Zen is missing,

A ringing bell reminds Hiroshima Nagasaki

The silent human race nation asks for Zen.

 

@ Bijayananda Mishra

Picture: Courtesy, Google