Madras Poem by Indira Renganathan

The ambience of the oceanic swells
The azure of the sky drowned therein
The sandy shore with ozonic breeze
The uncluttered stretch up the last eyeline

Eaten the sun-feast beatan by night gleam
Starry twinkling winking at statues' conspiracy
Over the panorama the illuminated beam
The light-house sea-marking with accuracy

There, her majesty queen Mary
With her radio recreations
Literates of Presidency and University
Smiling Mahathma musically on fridays

Spinning around many a pantheon
Of heritage and history
Names of many a medallion
In library of a century

Deities of age old temples
Festively resonating in academies
Music, dance and drama in ripples
Yearlong by dignitaries

Theosophy under an aeoned banyan tree
clasically singing and dancing
Pinking palace of an art-gallery
Bubbling with handicraft and painting

Many more left here though
True you delighted me
That did I once bow
In proposal to Ye

Madras o' madras!
Did love you darling
But long back once
Now you are rotting

Corrupted with terrific traffic
Overflowingly endangering
Need a vehicle to pick
Passengers even to other side crossing

You've grown scraping the sky
Atop no dredging even a pail of water
So high a basin a bay
Threatening when a tsunami does enter...

Why Madras, why?
So many whys are there
Don't throw back a why
When said 'no more proposals dear'