The simple heart of neither the Bedouin,
Nor of his sloe-eyed Camel,
Has come towards a rocketing change.
Without dishonour to progress,
They remain aloof,
Nodding their sagely heads from afar,
At the gushing wings of time -
Both sitting together, in the contentment
Of their casual homes.

 

The sound of the rain rouses
The Bedouin, utterly;
In such a company,
Almost in ethereal frenzy,
He still begins to pray.
In-on-across the wandering desert,
Both master and his child-pet
Relentlessly follow, where ever the miracle
Of the water spectacle appears.

 

Unimpressed by the spread out dollars -
The Couple prefers to live in solitariness.
The Nomad made peace with his Desolator,
A long time ago.
The sleek letters that are formed
By the sky-writing horizon are mere confinements
Of a prisoner’s cell,
In which the Bedouin and his Camel
Would be isolated from each other!

 

 

1996                                                  
Dubai

 

Geeta Chhabra

 

From the book: An Indian Ode To The Emirates by Geeta Chhabra