The Lamenting Spelling! Poem by Varanasi Ramabrahmam

I am spelling
The alphabet's linear dwelling
In the composition and construction of a word
To give sense and sensitivity

Mastering me also
Has been part of efficiency in language learning

Writing words correct in order of alphabet
During dictation has been an art and knowledge

Marks were reduced for writing or telling pronunciation
Of me incorrectly;
It was a shame then not to master me;

I was also at the top of
Learning, of three 'r' s

Such I, the heart and
Art of language learning
Is now being massacred inhumanly

None cares to learn, know or write me correctly;
A full word I make with
Good number of letters;
Now reduced to single letter;
Adding salt to my wounds,
Am even replaced by digits

Where shall I go now?
Where shall I dwell now?
Am not used to live or
having place to be
outside languages;

Am not able to bear this humiliation
Heaped on me by insincere learners

From being chief part of language learning
I became an exile, a refugee, an untouchable
Refuge in realms of language learning and communication

I am buried alive
By the youthful but care-free and careless;
Not sincere, unenthusiastic, lazy, hasty,
Differently - innovative
SMS, MMS, NET - zens!

Is there any one to listen to my wailing,
To see my plight;
Thrown down from the peaks of
Mastering languages!

God save me;
God save languages from becoming form-less
And extinct