Amongst The Ruins Poem by Sharad Rajimwale

These are just ruins
wreckage from the past.
Time lurks here as I walk through
fallen pillars and crumbling graves.
Stone and marble beckon me
with their moss-grown, emptied out existence.
How do they affect me?
The buried hands do not offer any guidelines
to behave in my times.
I wind my way through grass and wild flower jungle
stumbling on abandoned arches and doorposts here and there.

I do not feel offended if a road is named
after Emperor Aurangzeb
nor do I rejoice if another bears the name of Vikramaditya.
I look ahead at the roads
that jostle with present worries and anxieties
the chaos of the bazaars and the unruly traffic
the lawless politicians and a culture decaying fast.

Neither Aurangzeb nor Vikramaditya
explains the present roads sufficiently.

- -Sharad Rajimwale
Jodhpur, India