O, Humanity! Poem by Sudhir Ambedkar

O Man, Thou measurer of Time!
With some deeds of virtue and crime,
Thou create the History of thy Kind,
And hope, it would, thy deeds, remind.

To learn some useful lesson
For the happy life of coming session!
Every effort thou make for
A happy life and happiness galore.

But alas! All thy efforts go
In vain, and thou, a little bow,
And in voice frail, thou utter and say¬
I seek Refuge, O Providence, I pray!

But why thou seeketh Protection,
Fleeing deluded away in dereliction?
Forgetting thy Duty, thou learnt flattering,
Crammed some hymns and began chattering!

Even thy prayers of day and night
Cannot take thee out of the plight
Thou suffer. Thy sufferings so full of pity
That Melancholy itself loseth its integrity.

Yet thou proud of thy false gains
Which with the passage of time nothing remains.
Thou know not the vanity of thy pleasure.
Thy obsession has, for everything a measure!

Thou a great patron of everything,
A great savior after God thou boasting!
If I were to say, I would charge thee reverse.
This Man, I fear, can eat the whole Universe!

Thy useless knowledge and foolish intellect
Leads but to a grave conflict
Of thoughts and emotions. Thou slave
Of thy passion, yet pretending to be brave!

If thou want to lead a happy life,
Thou must end the struggle and strife.
Never be too arguing, nor be too passionate,
Love not too deeply, nor give way to hate.

Make Humanity thy religion, Compassion thy virtue.
Consider not it preaching, my heart speaks too!
Follow not me but thy own Awakened Conscience.
Discover thy own ‘self', this is the best science!

(January,2010, Allahabad)