Summer’s Undone
Summer smells of rot,
Sweat, masks, death,
Rotten berries bleed purple
In summer’s heyday.
The sky brightens,
a featureless blue
It stays the same each day
Unknown to human misery.
News keeps pouring in
Of deaths and derangement,
Men stalk the streets
Their homes endless long hours away.
There’s a pestilence out there they say,
The planet’s reminder to all those who
Choose to erase
The forests, rivers and the thriving nests.
The sun still shines though,
Over these futureless men
Their governments forever bailing,
Their children hungry and wailing.
They walk on regardless
In hope of a home,
Where need would end
And living begin.
Debashree Majumdar is a writer-editor from India, currently living in Switzerland. Her writing on travel and food has appeared in National Geographic Traveller, Mint Lounge, The Hindu Business Line, and Open Magazine among other publications.
