The Declaration of Grass

In the divine chronicles 
so-called and so-believed
the faithful transcribers 
placed The Word 
in elemental maps —
mountain they marked
rivers and other boundaries in flux 
duly peopled with king and coronation —
hosanna for conqueror 
footnote for infidel 
the rise of splendid cities
the inevitable crumbling to dust —
and upon it, in a corner, 
with ’Holy’ seal, marked


So bent, quashed and uprooted
by the engines of war 
the prophets never saw the grass

Neglected thus they conferred 
under monsoonal skies 
and around collaterals 
broken arrows, stained bandages  
charred footwear and nostalgia-shards
and decided for them and always:

‘For lovers and poets 
there will always be
and for them, and for their repose
as muse or papyrus  
so shall we.’