The Day After - December 5, 2023

This poem is a brutal reminder of the spoils across the city and lives disrupted. Sunshine and blue skies are back, and life is urging everybody to go on and move forward.

First – the chirpy bird song

And of course –

The raspy ravens

How I love to

Listen to them again

Broken bridges

Ripped telephone lines

Fallen electric poles

The warriors still battle

No electricity or Internet yet

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A walk about the campus

Trees with broken limbs

Brutally plucked away

Fatigued trees now standing still

Wet leaves folded in humility

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A beautiful tree it was once

Now slanting ominously

What about the walkers

By the time I return

It turns into neatly chopped wood

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Little nestlings wet

Does not matter now

For they are sleeping well

Forever, now, forever

Their parents not around

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The pause in the downpour

brings the morning calm (again)

A clear blue sky

Floating fluffy foams

doze of bright sunshine

The soft touch of the breeze

The shiny green leaves

still, and don't quiver

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An orange hibiscus

Blooms, fresh and innocent

A new-born knows no past

Just today with bright sunshine

A new day to look forward

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The still puddle now clear

A mirror of the blue heavens above

Innocent pools now

Just right for little children

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Again- the chirpy bird song

And of course –

The raspy ravens

How I love to

Listen to them again

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But…

Electricity back in the city

Gadgets guzzling to life

Chime with reminders of work

Texts, pictures, and videos

Urging to get on with life

I am just one of them

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Folks, heaven is here and back

For the dead will be buried

Broken will be fixed or forgotten

The day after…

Life springs a day forward.

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~Ashok Subramanian ? 2023

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