Happy Pongal

Along the Temple wall
A farmer sits all day
With Sugarcane so sweet
Yet, none to buy at all
With sadness in his eye
He looks at every passerby
As If to ponder why-
Why none stop to buy?

The festival that he knew
The overflowing pot
The overflowing joy
And a beginning new
are just delusions now
A hopeless holy cow
A future bleak, unsure
With a pointless plough

Times are changing fast
Fresh shoots forget the roots
The meanings that he knew
are figments of the past
The generation of today
Behind burgers, buns & fries
Realize not the bliss
Of Nature's simple way

Pongal will remain
Another holiday forever
In memories so sweet
Like his unsold sugarcane
Next year he might have
To a builder sold his land
Then sit by the Temple and laugh
At what we'll never have…