Wild Fire Poem by JAFAR SADIK

The only cluster of bamboo
Stood alone
Among the teak trees
And rose woods,
spread wide
Had to tell something.

Though it cried
Umpteen times,
Nobody heed it

Birds nested
On the teaks
Snakes lived
In holes of rosewood
Squirrels and monkeys
Relied on the vine clumps.

The bamboo went on
the screeching.
It had to tell
Something…
But nobody
heed to it.

The herd of elephants
Passed by crushing.
The tigers went by
In search of water,
Pissed on it's foots.
The deers and fawns
whom gave the shelter
went by hitting
with the antlers of apathy.
The squirrels and the sparrows
laughed at scornfully.

Someday,
creaking and creaking
the cluster got enkindled.
The fire has grown and spread.
The jungle has burned to ashes.

The squirrels, sparrows
and snake have got charred.
The herd of elephants
And the tigers and monkeys
Strayed away seeking shelters.
The deers and fawns
Drowned in the river of fire.