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Merthyr and Mumbai - Mike Jenkins (U.K.)

 


MERTHYR AND MUMBAI

-         Mike Jenkins (U.K.)

 

 

Dry April turns to fire.

Smoke from the mountain-side

choking air, destroyers with lighters

have fled. I recall Mumbai

skyline with pollution haze hanging

every single day like smoke

from a thousand crematoria.

 

 

Grass snakes, foxes , field mice

fleeing or dying, burnt alive ;

while people take to the roads

back to villages with paltry belongings ;

gorse and bracken , the shanty towns

abandoned as flames crown

the ridges , the car parks.

 

 

Where will they go?

Nests ashened, ramshackle homes

left to the monsoon season.

Breathe again, but for how long?

Fire is following ,

will it catch them?

 

****