A tough old race of ancient men,

Kin to the dynasaur,

Now return to recharge the earth

With ablutions of gore.

 

Not a tree that does not bend

To the whisper of their tread;

Not a bird of free discourse

Who is not full of dread.

 

What were cities and high-rises

Are lethal caves and grottos;

I see mammoths stomp the streets

Where used to be autos.

 

Monkeys with monster tails

Are sentinels to nations;

Creatures with elephant heads

Preside over deliberations.

 

For long did mere humanity

Enfeeble the earth;

Sapiens seem once again

To recoup a primitive birth.

 

What pride that this revolution

Should boldly portend

From a hallowed territory

Of no beginning, no end.


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Badri Raina is a well-known commentator on politics, culture and society. His columns on the Znet have a global following. Raina taught English literature at the University of Delhi for over four decades and is the author of the much acclaimed Dickens and the Dialectic of Growth. He has several collections of poems and translations. His writings have appeared in nearly all major English dailies and journals in India.

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