The Aborigines And The Jungle

Sashikala Tiwari translated by Wayne Amtzis The Aborigines And The Jungle A group of Aborigines that set off toward the city never returned I told them tie your belongings in a bundle Hide your women The eye of the city is poisonous There will be no canopy of trees to take refuge from the night You'll have to rest beneath your own shadow There will be no pond to drink from You have to quench your thirst with your own tears The city is the jungle of man and it will not be safe like the jungle of animals. They didn't see it that way They followed the lamps like moths They died sinking while crossing the road Those who escaped tigers and bears became the victims of man Together with the Aborigines the jungle also went under On trees of cement creepers of wire were tangled Iron herds began to run The stream dried and became sand In this way the tale of the Aborigines and the jungle ended Even these days when that bird perched on the electric pole grieves, I remember the Aborigines and the jungle When the thirst-maddened Kakakul shrieks I remember the jungle dwellers and the jungle ...