1.5 ‘ Earthen Pots’ - ONV Kurup

EARTHEN POTS

ONV KURUP

 

How long have we remained here thus

Two empty earthen pots, gazing at each other

Close by in the potter’s yard!

So close that softly brushing against each other

And not quite sure whether touching or not

Gazing at each other in inexhaustible zest,

We two earthen pots.

 

Those who from golden goblets drink red wine

May dismiss us in contempt and extreme scorn

For we are made for the poor simple folk,

We are cheap and may easily break.

Yet we are good enough to store

The blessed gift of earth-water clear and pure

Within our hold unpolluted

Though we are mere earthen pots.

Even our makers do not know

Where tomorrow we shall be

Hundreds like us who are crowded here

Are waiting, waiting for some unknown buyer

To lift us up, one by one, and hold us to the ear

And with a finger stroke quality- test us by the sound.

If satisfied he buys one and walks away

Followed by our sighs that bind us in one thought of woe

And intense sense of loss

Of one who was one among us

Ah! When does your turn come to depart

And when it comes, who would be the first to leave?

Critical appreciation:

ONV Kurup is a pr