Poetry: Diya Baral

Diya Baral

Man vs. trees

          

      Life manifests itself

       In dynamic motion.

       Everything moves.

       Subatomic particles,

      Planets, stars, galaxies.

     However, trees apparently 

            Don’t move.

      They seem to be static.

        Their movement are

     Upwards and downwards

           And gradual.

          Grand old trees

      Are inseparable entities

         Of Mother Nature

       Like mountains, rivers.

           In our backyard,

     We have some big trees,

  Mango, Coconut, Jackfruit, Wood Apple.

       Land greedy people 

        Try to convince us

       To build skyscrapers

              We refuse…

         We refuse silently.

   Our world inside crumbles.

       Trees are vanished…

     In front of our eyes!

     We couldn’t protest;

    We couldn’t resist our emotions!

Development means concretization.

  Buildings, roads, and bridges…

All are at the cost of trees,

Brutal deforestation is paving the way.

 Of unbearable summer, super cyclone. 

  The future of my planet

     Is at stake!

***

A conscious tree

If a man cut the branches,

   A tree will feel 

   The extreme pain.

     But as a tree,

     It can’t protest. 

If a man uproots brutally,

     It can’t complain.

On the branches of a tree,

      Insects slither,

    Birds create nests.

           As a tree,

     It can feel the air.

     A conscious tree

   Can acquire things,

With its hereditary tolerance,

   Its pains and sufferings

   Are unnoticed totally!

      A conscious tree 

  Has no nervous system.

           But still,

  It can feel the emotions.

But a man can also feel

The pain and suffering of a tree.

   If a man sings a song

       A tree can feel

.   The song of nature,

  Which helps in the synchronization,

For the existence of a tree’s life.

   A tree, a conscious tree,

     Can feel it very well.

***

I find peace in nature

      I want to flee now

       From the city,

 From the sounds and disturbances of

     Huge cars and vehicles.

    I want to flee now 

  From the polluted areas,

        Since I see the

  Smoke from the factory!

           I want to go

  Where the greenery is.

I want to climb the branches

       Of the huge trees.

I want to feel the beauty of nature,

     Where the birds sing,

And the music of nature echoes.

         I want to sit

        Beside a river.

       I want to swim,

Which is serene and sanct.

  I want to feel the unpolluted atmosphere,

 Even I want to listen the cricket’s song.

          I will go to  

       Walk on the soil,

       And plant the seeds

For the fresh fruits and vegetables,

 And sit and feel the essence of nature!

           I can’t feel

   The existence of my life,

  If I live in concretized life!

          It feels that,

        I will not survive

In the less amount of oxygen!

    So, I want to flee now 

   From the worst city life,

   And escape to greenery,

 The smell of pure nature

 Will enter my city lungs.

***

Bio: Diya Baral is currently pursuing master’s in English literature at Rishi Bankim Chandra College under West Bengal State University. She loves to write poems and articles. Her poems and articles got published in both online and offline mode. Her some of the poems published in ‘Setu Bilingual Magazine (September 2022)’, ‘Ode to A Poetess,’ ‘Poetry Unites: An Anthology of Verse,’ ‘Youthful Elegies: Echoes of a New Generation,’ etc. She has also presented papers in seminars.

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Setu, June 2024