KAHIHI

I entered into the greenery
Adorned in luscious pastures
Like fitly composed landscapes
By God gifted painters

On the way to Kolhapur,
Admiring the Sahyadri ranges
Spiralling the ghat
Driving at sharp edges

At a distance, I stopped
To sprinkle a little water
On my face, and drink some
And have my kanda-bhakari later

Resting under a tree
Near a solid rock stone
I heard a little murmur
I felt someone mourn

Feet tapping tired horse
Next to a glazing sword
I shook a lustrous figure by his shoulder
But he never uttered a word

I have seen him somewhere,
Maybe, in my history book
When the bearded face turned
And gave me a low-down look

I continued to rest then
Little farther from the horse
Moments later, he rose and
Walked to me with remorse

How far you want to reach?
Please tell me, you urban men
Where is my Rashtra, that Swaraj?
Which I had dreamt of then

You have muffed my mountains
That I once proudly guarded
And as a token of marvel architecture
To you, with trust, I had gifted

You have moved into the rivers
You pushed away the ocean
In the lust for an inch more, O Bhavani,
See what they're doing of every town

Panhala makes me panicky
Shivneri makes me shiver
For you'll erase that too someday
To satisfy your bawdy hunger

While trying to build homes
For your warriors, and their wives
Realise, in my forts, if not my mavla
His soul still survives

Look around your state,
The Adarsh that I built
And when I look at yours
I am jittered with guilt

Then he bowed and kneeled
With folded hands, in front me
Like once he did, when young
In front of Maa Bhavani

He will take up the sword again,
I feared, and raze out us all
Like once, while on a rampage,
He had wrecked the Moghul

Filled with guilt I drove away, though
I never had played that game, so dirty
My only fault I realised later
I belonged to Maharashtra's mega city