Think how a moment’s swipe of hail
Turns a season’s yield to naught;
So does a word of mean intent
Drill a hole in a steadfast heart.
What use an edifice of success,
With zero at the centre,
That tramples frolicking burgeonings
Into a perpetual winter
Laced with icicles of hate,
And envy’s tortured lack;
Better a glimmer of empathy
Replete as almanac.
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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