THE LAST LEAP YEAR
Dr. R. Rabindranath Menon
Is 2000 A.D. just another year
that cowers with yesterday’s fear?
The same old framework in the aftermath
of an election that buries many a sad truth.
Life that perished with poison now
flourishes on it. To succeed somehow
is the dosing year’s renewed vow.
Progress is a craving to consume
marching towards the inevitable doom.
Echoes call from the black asphalt:
“The roads are winding, long and steep,
my promises are all too big to keep
before I falter and fall asleep.
Let me rule before I sleep.
The mire is rising, it’s neck-deep,
let me rule before I sleep……”
Hope survives in the clash of fears,
each evil afraid of other’s shears
and the last head-count. Fifty years
gambol at the poll-games to degrade
devils, but all emerge strong in this decade.
The hangman awaits the last word,
but masters change, so it wasn’t heard.
Anarchists yearn to rule from a tent
pitched long before. Discontent
and desire checkmate each other.
Democracy sprouts a few shoots
with power to turn this country green.
The question is whether the old bandicoots
will eat them up, the unsettled scene
has hope in its head, but mud in its boots.