AN  AUTUMN  AFTERNOON

A weak Autumn hides somewhere  far behind the fields

Of  half-ripe paddy , maize , peanut and mung beans

Revealing the phantom skeleton of a late monsoon;

And the sad dysfunction of a thin dew in the night

In the joyless countenance of a burning afternoon.

Farmers  compute losses , peasants await more relief

Cyclone-hit millions chide a shameless  ghost moon

When ceaseless cawing of thirsty crows fills the noon;

Sun-struck butterflies in absence of flowers droop

To the ground to sit on dry grass to sigh and swoon.

Casual fall of leaves from sparse tall trees break silence

Of  serpentine roads leading to hollowed hearts of hamlets

With hunger for food, polythene, water in their shrunken eye

As the Sun quickly softens  behind the eyelid of a half-sleeping sky.

Comp. n copy right : saroj k. padhi

31/10/14