Cues

By Ahmed Sumaiya S M

The poem Cues adopts a quirky style, where nature itself speaks directly to human beings, questioning all that has been taken from it without consideration for preservation. 

Man, you caught the sight of my trees, 

let go their leaves, along with the brooks 

dancing with the ripples. 

Wishing to sail like them, you chopped, 

took her logs, and made with it your barques. 

Man, you happened to meet my millipedes, 

creeping and crawling on damp soil, 

imprinting long parallel lines, resembling your railroad tracks. 

Prompted by it, you built your steam locomotives, 

which on you move to distant lands. 

Man, you, as swift as my birds, 

wished to maneuver in the sky, 

piercing the air, and on cloud nine.

You cut the wings and caged her and, 

fastened the arms and flew your planes. 

Man, did you foot the bill? 

For the af latus and amenities. 

I demanded not a thing but, 

to redress the lesions begot from you. 

Exhaust me not, for your progeny might ponce me not! 

By Ahmed Sumaiya S M