This poem has a story behind it. I had no access to the internet for a couple of hours, which pushed me back to my long lost companion of writing. I took some time alone with my thoughts and wrote this poem. This poem fits in almost ironically with this scenario. Happy Reading!
Year 2020
He envisioned it to be one
When India becomes a developed country
The tricolor flies high and proud
Peace and sustainable development prevail
Moving together like the wings of a dove
But I had a dream
Year 2121
When every drop of water has been sucked out of the earth
Gone with the times
Only remembered while telling bedtime stories
"Once upon a time there was water everywhere"
Left to the imagination
Gulping in their sleep
Hoping for that fresh sweet taste
They drag their tongues along the dried land
Searching for moisture
Somewhere
Anywhere
Instead they find buried cities
Swallowed up by earthquakes and tsunamis
Making the people of Pompeii gape with fear
But even there they find no water
Trees shrivelled up
Like a wet raincoat on a hanger
Carcasses of animals
Providing nutrition for children
Books and pens
Replaced with guns and bullets
Leaders pound the doors of North Korea
To end the brutal dictatorship
But merrily drill out the little oil left in Saudi Arabia
Oceans choking with plastic
That even the fishes come out to the land
For it is cleaner than the water
Women still try to end the patriarchy
Countries fight over land, water, clean air
Caste, community, tribe and religion
Are now just sources of war
Chaos and destruction
Slowly, we become primitives again
With all the knowledge of the world
But nothing to do with it
We leap off the cliff of extinction
Fall into an endless abyss
Deeper and deeper
Gasping I woke up
Was this just a nightmare?
Or is this the future?
He envisioned it to be one
When India becomes a developed country
The tricolor flies high and proud
Peace and sustainable development prevail
Moving together like the wings of a dove
But I had a dream
Year 2121
When every drop of water has been sucked out of the earth
Gone with the times
Only remembered while telling bedtime stories
"Once upon a time there was water everywhere"
Left to the imagination
Gulping in their sleep
Hoping for that fresh sweet taste
They drag their tongues along the dried land
Searching for moisture
Somewhere
Anywhere
Instead they find buried cities
Swallowed up by earthquakes and tsunamis
Making the people of Pompeii gape with fear
But even there they find no water
Trees shrivelled up
Like a wet raincoat on a hanger
Carcasses of animals
Providing nutrition for children
Books and pens
Replaced with guns and bullets
Leaders pound the doors of North Korea
To end the brutal dictatorship
But merrily drill out the little oil left in Saudi Arabia
Oceans choking with plastic
That even the fishes come out to the land
For it is cleaner than the water
Women still try to end the patriarchy
Countries fight over land, water, clean air
Caste, community, tribe and religion
Are now just sources of war
Chaos and destruction
Slowly, we become primitives again
With all the knowledge of the world
But nothing to do with it
We leap off the cliff of extinction
Fall into an endless abyss
Deeper and deeper
Gasping I woke up
Was this just a nightmare?
Or is this the future?
