Teesta - Run, River Run

To stop the river, they built again.  Yet another wall
Power. That energy aphrodisiac had them in enthrall
Thousands of tonnes of steel, cement, gravel and sand
And an inflated Excel projection that promised wonderland

 

“Yet another dam is raised; this river’s a subdued beast

Power for the malls, for rapacious urban feast

Any water that flows to the ocean is a economic waste

Dams.  More dams!” Built in cupidity and haste.

 

There were naysayers too: from tradition and from science

Who warned of the dangers, for they read between the lines

“You know of cement, yes, but you know not of this sky

When it rains, it pours and these waters aren’t shy.

The glacial lake is brimming and if the head stones unturned

An avalanche of water……have you no lessons learned?”

 

“This mountain is our mother and the river is our blood

Revere their bounty as is and only our hearts will flood

When the story unfolds, the loss will be ours indetermined.”

But these words of caution, alas, were cast to the summer wind

 

Well.  The story unfolded.  Over dusk and stormy dawn

And, like a paper between two fingers being unevenly torn,

That wall of hubris was ripped to a sentinel jagged shred

Lives and dreams lost forever amidst ominous dread

 

Every pebble in the Teesta has a poignant story to tell

But those who wear the shroud of Hubris hardly listen well

Never.  Never. Never must this happen ever again.

But we know it sadly will for the builder feels no pain.

 

My heart goes out to you, stoic Lepchas of the Mist

To the soldiers whose lives we lost in Destiny’s twisted tryst

To those who warned unheeded of the fate to befall

And to the mystical, magical, enigmatic, sacred Teesta river,

……now under a fallen wall.