Ears Of Paddy Tied Bound By The Dam
Yet again Phulo's heart
Is a sweltering, blazing desert
Burning within on its own hot sands
As she watches the sowing of seeds
After a light drizzle in the fields.
Holding on a few scraps of paper,
Standing helpless on the banks of the dam,
In every rain, Salo's mother
Searches frenziedly for her lost farmlands.
The city dazzles with lights shining bright,
All thanks to the building of the dam,
While she startles at the very sight of her own shadow in the dark night
Cast by a flickering earthen lamp.
Today Soma starves,
For his fields are now massive reservoirs.
The cage of his ribs protrudes through his skin,
The innards shrink and shrivel within.
Now a dam to hold back the welling tears,
Now a dam to contain the seething rage.
These dams shall burst one day for sure,
When the boughs of sakua
From the hilltops in rebellion roar,
Sweeping out powers that destroy and displace.
And once again in the breeze will sway
The ears of paddy in their majesty,
Enclosed by mud mounds, no more by dams.