Door frames are seen

 Door frames are seen

inside the stylized window.

One by one we filed in

carrying the harvest

in a green basket.

We, the identical beings

without a distinct face.

We started early from the scented plantation

which we did not own,

dreaming the best of our dreams.

We travelled furlongs and fathoms to reach this place

in the early hours of the dawn

to catch the sight of the legendary king.

We were stunned to find an abandoned throne.

In the background, we heard a mob of vandals

burning down a wretched town.

One of them came forward;

his eyes had a satanic gleam.

We had not gone too far by then,

just reached the end of the lane.

The man scanned us up and down, and said,

"Surely, you haven't walked barefoot all this way

with a heavy load on your head.

Drop that load and back away."

We halted and said, "No sir, we have come to trade.

This, the harvest from the scented farm,

is sure to fetch us the price in gold."

"Gold!" he said that word in utter contempt.

You put me in mind of a deranged buffoon

who came here long ago, carrying the tales of a land

that survived on primitive myths of heaven.

Here, we fight to gain control of oil fields

which is the new code word for gold."

"But we have brought you food", we said.

He gave a laugh, a sinister grin.

"Food! Those are husks, mere husks

on the sacks of corns; that's all we know."

We gauged the mood of the mob

from this single specimen of that tribe.

On the night of our sojourn in that embattled town

we found a place to hide away

In the shade of a blinking lamplight and the walls

was a makeshift home and a crib

and a newborn babe left alone

kicking in a mangled quilt.

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7György Fülöp, Yong Ming and 5 others

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Shobha Nadkarni

very well written