(The Indian Ocean Tsunami killed 155 thousand people [in 2005])
And the earth/ground shakes
waves fly
People are reaped/harvested
Like the doomsday, mother and son don’t recognise each other
What a calamity/affliction has fallen upon /struck the God’s earth
That people hold their noses from the stench of their flesh (dead bodies)
Nature is playing games
People were catching fish (fishing) but didn’t know (were not aware)
that in a game of nature
fish will become full by eating them (will eat them)
When the earth/ground spun/turned under the feet of the servants of God (humans)
The adults/grown-ups yelled/cried
O’ Lord (Allah)
O’ Bhagwan
O’ Jesus…. Buddha…. Moses, reach (help) us
But the kids and insane/madmen didn’t comprehend/know
to whom to look upto (who to ask for help)
They (kids and insane) were lucky for not knowing (being ignorant)
Because (they) first laughed out loud at/to the earthquake and then died
The sky was still blue
No one said anything
The laughter(s) sank/vanished in the sound/noise of the waves
Women are still looking at the waves
But in the dark night, the torch/light of any fisherman’s small boat is not visible/doesn’t appear) in the water
There is no Adhan (call to prayer) in the mosques
No bells are ringing in mandirs
The church crosses are broken
People hold each other’s throat over the charity/donated bread (food) by the very/highly rich/wealthy
And kids/babies
still suck blood from the breasts/bosom of dead mothers
* * *
There are lots of people on the earth (in the world)
Some (of them) burn in fire and some (burn/die) in war
Some vanish /disappear in the earthquake under the soil and water
And once again the humanity/human being comes to know
that death is the agony/grief for widows and orphans
Not for those who died/perished
The tragedy of death is still alive
playing with the tears of Hindi (Indian) and Bengali women
But those who died don’t understand know this.
* * *
A madman/an insane person was sitting on the tree branch
The tree standing in the middle of mud
And the madman had survived in/on it like a bird.
The madman wept/cried and then laughed
and said that:
The war will still continue somewhere in this world
and some people will be wanting/craving (shedding) blood of some people
Here nature helped them
Nature wept/cried a lot
So now it is possible (that)/(it may be that)
the warriors are full/have become full
and (that) the war/fighting stops ….
The madman wept/cried and then laughed
The tree was standing
And he had survived in/on it like a bird.