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| Pic Courtesy: Telegraph India. Almost dry Chembarabakkam lake |
Water, water where have you gone?
We search for you in deep wells and dried up lakes.
Through hard, unyielding sand and tough rocks,
Our searching pumps come up coughing dusty air.
Water, water where have you gone?
We see you tumbling against our coastline
In a joyful profusion of frothy waves and forgotten litter,
But not a drop can we drink, thanks to your salty disposition.
Water, water where have you gone?
Leaving us sinners bemoaning our fates
Our thrones are wobbly without you to flush
The refuse begotten by excessive tastes.
It is now a luxury to wash our sorry asses.
Water, water where have you gone?
Our lakes are dry, the birds long gone,
All that is left are buildings and houses standing tall.
Drink that you fools, see how it quenches your thirst,
This edifice you have built out of brick and stone.
Is it too late to change ourselves?
To look beyond our selfish gains?
To spare a thought for this dwindling resource
That will be needed for our most minute of tasks?
That will be needed for our most dire, basic needs?
Water, water I beseech thee
To forgive us for our transgressions and our greed
Please step down from the hallowed spaces of your heavenly abode
Fill our streams and dried river beds with your translucent body
So that we may live another day to rectify our deeds.
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