Poetry : : The Nature's Fury

 

                         The Nature’s fury

(This verse is based on a true life incidence. On 29^th October 1999, a Super Cyclone devastated the Odisha coast, claiming thousands of lives. The Telegraph news paper, Kolkata edition  reported a haunting scene: a little girl found alive on a rock four days later, clinging to a doll. While her family was swept away, this "lifeless" object became her sole companion and a symbol of survival.)

 
The Gigantic waves swept o’er the shore,
As Odisha sank beneath the roar.
A little girl stood on the stone,
Amidst the roaring waters, all alone.
No signs of life within her sight,
Shadows of dead  floating through the night.
For four long days she braved the storm,
Too numb to weep, too cold and worn.
Her parents, sisters—all she cherished—
In the raging depths had perished.
While living souls were washed away,
She held her doll and knelt to pray.
A man-made thing of cloth and thread,
Endured while all the rest had fled.
The doll was still,  when its life began,
It outlasted every breath of man.
Yet in girls arms, it fanned the spark,
A flicker in the drowning dark.
A hovering plane then dropped its store,
A gift of bread upon the shore.
She clings to life, a fragile breath,
A miracle in the face of death.

                                - Pankaj Mala Bhattacharya