Sketches of the Countryside
K. Radhakumar *
Dogs bark throughout the night
The surrounding countryside sends back echoes;
I know the mating season has set in
The mating season of naked country dogs!
Excited bulls run after a cow
The more the merrier
To us the onlookers
A sort of mating exercise
Raw and vulgar
Compared to the mating dance of the peacock
Before copulating with the peahen.
The senses of the bulls
Are far sharper than mine
These country bulls know
A cow is on the heat.
Pitch dark night,
Frighteningly unreal in the wee hours!
An owl is hooting nearby
And crows have been seen in the daytime
Flying here and there,
Keeping a sharp lookout and crowing.
A harbinger of tragedy
My grandmother would have murmured.
Nothing happens
The ugly night is gone
And I wake up to a clear blue sky.
Sometimes death is a simple thing here.
The person next door dies in his sleep
I’ve had tea with him only yesterday.
Ours is a vast countryside
Its fields and woods read like poetry
The more I read the more I enjoy
And I enjoy it
Even when I am unable to comprehend.
* Poem written by K. Radhakumar which was published at The Sangai Express
This poem was webcasted on June 10, 2017.
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