Yesterday,
The pine-scented breeze stretches and stirs,
From the moist, mossy heart of Shillong Peak,
It rides an early sunbeam, as pure as light itself;
Flirts with a flower, caresses a brook,
Breathes life as it hides and seeks!
Finds a child, tousles his hair,
“Come let us play,” it beckons.
Today,
The fume soaked breeze groans and struggles,
Hurting, it stumbles, scaring my beloved Peak.
The sunbeam is an unfriendly haze,
Stifling and choking, struggling to breathe, itself
A borrowed breath it shares.
Innocence is a rat darting from house to car,
From infancy to manhood!
Tomorrow,
Do I care, I do not know; mankind does,
My beloved Peak, you will live on,
Even when I am long gone,
To stir a hopeful zephyr,
That will catch a fleeting sunbeam
That will rise in clearing sky.
As You breathe, so will Life.
WR Marbaniang
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