Older people may throw up,

But the young must surely live;

Stepping away from our debris,

They must dream something new.

 

Nature forges a tiny rod

To pulverize our gumption;

Time to learn a language new

That may induce a resumption

 

Of foliage and fresh air,

Of waters blue, pristine,

A sky unshackled from our greed

And glaciers thick and clean;

 

Where seasons show plumage due

Of timely blossom and bird,

Where advancement is betokened by

A shared kitty and a milder word.

 

Where hills, peoples, animals

Are not feed for power,

Where the least leaf and creature is

More than a Trump tower.


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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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