Merin Elizabeth Kuruvilla

Poems have appeared in Young Times, 'U', Target, Children's Digest, Al
Ittihad newspaper. Won in the Intl. Haiku Competition conducted by the
Japanese Airlines in 1992. Won the 1st place un the poetry competition
organised by the Cultural Foundation, Abu Dhabi in 1993. Recited own poem
on TV in connection with the National Day of the Emirates in 1993. Won
silver medal in the Shankar's Intl. Children's Competition in 1994.
Interviewed by Abu Dhabi TV network in March 1995. Won silver medal in the
Shankar's Intl. Children's Competiton condcted in 1995. Interviewed by the
Abu Dhabi TV in April 1996.

First volume of verse, Expressions, published in September 1994
Second volume of poetry, Impressions, published in October 1995
Third volume of verse, Reflections, published in October 1996
Fourth volume of poetry, Efflorescence, published in April 1998



INDIA'S FLIGHT TO PROGRESS

Five decades ago, as the clock struck twelve,
the shell of Indian freedom cracked,
And the stunted nestling peering out,
In nearly every aspect, lacked.
Prepared by wonderful guides
Who survived years of reckless plunder,
Following centuries of brutality,
Our leaders cast our bonds asunder.
Nurtured and cherished with unmatched zeal
By every patriotic Indian eye,
It feebly stirs fresh, uncertain wings
In a weak attempt to fly.

Not a soul guessed the talent and splendour
Concealed within this nation ...
And the introduction of modern gadgets
Enabled easier communication.
As agriculture faced improvement
In gradual, slight degrees,
And citizens fell into raptures
In the sheer charm of being free,
The gull signifying our liberation
Fluttered over horizons unexplored,
On an intricately designed flight
To have our radiance of yore restored.

Rustic tools and bullock carts
Succumbed to mechanisms of today,
The once impregnable caste system
Duly underwent decay.
Devoted to both the squalid and splendid,
We pledge the ultimate loyalty,
The residents of our exotic brown country,
Enfolded in diversity.
The golden eyes of a Bengal tiger glisten,
Mystic in the black night -
And the seabird of Indian independence
Soars above incredible heights.

Though we note the sublimity
Of democracy and secularism,
And display indications
Of brotherhood and secularism,
Though giant paragons of architecture
Enclose improving streets -
The longwinding route to absolute advancement
Is yet to be complete.
The gull rends the air with an ecstatic cry,
The crowning point is nigh,
In five decades of continual progress,
It is but a winged streak in the sky.

SAYING GOODBYE

The night sky glitters over knots of green, shadows across the ground,
Where my heart rues having to leave, when my home's been found.
These are my last hours home, beneath a studded sky,
The last hours to perfect the jigsaw of this paradise.
Saying good-bye is alien, though. The time hasn't come to let go
Of emerald fields and tall grass flooded by the sun's warm glow.

I haven't been away too long, but that land across the sea
Seems foreign now, buried in the haze of anonymity.
Strangers abound in its frame , unknown persons lurk
Waiting to race ahead. I can't face that world of work.

I belong here amid groves of palms, warm retreats, fields of green,
Where the sun sheathes the trees and streets in its golden sheen.
The warmth of family is no farce. I share immortal ties
With everyone and everything. This is a place I prize.
But I have to move on .. I have to answer duty's firm dictate,
Probe the many questions of life, attend to tasks in wait.

I want to hold on to this dream. But time forces me apart
From an exotic, different world - one that's conquered my heart.

AUGUST 6, OVER HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI

The sky grows dark over a quiet Japan,
An anchored moon surveys the scene
Of a nation crippled by brutal wars
And foul events the world had seen.
Never to spend a dreamless sleep,
Since it linked to a ruthless fight,
Its people unaware of the hazard
Lurking in the folds of night.

And then the peril descends -
It slices the air in its deadly frame,
Devouring the elements of a stricken land
In a rapid sheet of flame.
The frenzied assassin roams the ground,
Chiseling out deep grooves,
From beneath a sweep of charred remains,
Gropingfingers cease to move.

A wild explosion churning the earth,
The raging blast which sent
Waves of shock through two wrecked cities,
Wiping out their residents.
Save the few demolished souls
Who scour a dead land denied of light,
To gather the fragments of shaken cities,
Reduced to ruins overnight.
The victims of a cruel nuclear blast,
Unsure of what tomorrow holds,
Dwelling in the realms of blindness,
A secret future - dark, untold.

Where men had sorrowed, laughed and toiled,
Lies the result of an insane drive,
Left at the roots of the ladder to system,
Looking on a string on shattered lives.
A yet unruffled moon views the haze,
And soon the gleam of light reveals
An expanse waiting, in the grip of time,
On its way to be healed.

SENTENCE IN SIBERIA

The sun carves a niche in a livid sky,
A faint flicker in the east
Upon the fate-lines on shifting snows,
Pebbles defeated beneath feet.
Upon the rush of weary frames
Slaving in silent monotony,
Snowlakes fall around them,
The wind whistles in the trees.
As the noiseless foot of time endures,
Unknown dejection stamps
The storm of pensive souls
Reined in a Siberian labour camp.

Another tastless crust is fortune divine
To the many lives paralyzed below,
Infinite aims and dreams gambled away
Amid the falling snow.

Form against form in a steamy hall,
Slow movements of their jaws,
Frisked by the hour by listless guards,
Endlessly probed and pawed.

Though resigning to a life in chains,
A ray of hope still burns
In the horrors of a labour camp,
Life crawls within its turns.
Hope gleams in these painful depths,
Masked by a cape of despair,
They've forgotten how to shed a tear,
And how to say a prayer.
Drifting into the shades of sleep,
Waiting to catch the light,
To greet freedom from a sphere
In the grip of eternal night.