The Deadliest Wildfire Poem by Namita Rani Panda

Grandpa used to tell, "You're a son,
Never feel deserted and forlorn
I may not be with you forever,
So, read and write and make pen your never-failing companion
Better learn to be your own sun."

I'm now a hapless orphan
My grandpa being reduced to a heap of blazing amber in an explosion
My fate is lifeless like his burnt carcass
And my hope reduced to a heap of ash
The deadliest wildfire of hunger
The treacherous terror that torture
Like the impenetrable suffocating smoke from forest fire
Blurred my vision
And strangled my conscience
I had no other options
Than accepting the offer of holding a gun.
Who cares for shelter and love when fire ravages the belly,
When dreams are shattered like the broken pieces of glass,
And the whole existence crumbles like a castle of cards!
A belly full square of meal they give
And I preferred to be their white slave.
In the game of give and take
I never bothered who's the loser
And who's the winner,
Even I never opposed their decision
When the mother within me was crushed mercilessly before it could bloom
I live with no gloom
Better no future generation to suffer
To be born to burn and wreathe in the deadliest fire of hunger.
You can say I am utterly selfish and cruel
That I sealed the future of future
But as said by my grandpa
I am a sun, a ball of fire
I burn ceaselessly, you can only see my glare
But, have you ever thought of how much the sun suffers?
Never!
Unless you yourself are engulfed in this deadliest wildfire ever!