The glow-worms twinkle like the stars,
But they flit about unlike the stars.
They come from nowhere and go nowhere
Even as man’s dreams come and get him nowhere.
Crime takes a moment for its commission,
But it takes years of pennance for its remission.
Who knows whether you will be punished
Before your pennance you have finished?
There is pepper garbled and ungarbled,
There are floors marbled and unmarbled.
The quality is different in the former case,
The shine is different in the latter case.
In a country that is shining are starvation deaths possible?
Deaths are horrible, but starvation deaths are more horrible.
Can the government prevent such types of death?
Yes, with more care for poor men’s food and health.
How many poor men are marginalised!
How many defenceless are victimised!
How many orphans are unprotected!
How many crimes are undetected!
To the extent that corruption grows
To that extent the number of laws grows.
For corruption laws are no obstruction,
Morality alone can help its prevention.
Some farmers leave their farms a wasteland,
For they cannot afford to cultivate the land.
The cost of cultivation is too high
And cheap labour cannot be had nearby.
In festival season people are in a spending spree
Not because all of them are from deft free.
What is life without any enjoyment
Even for those having no employment?
Spies need no visa to cross borders;
They have to obey no orders.
Once caught, they will crawl
And not raise a hand for a brawl.
Honest and upright men have become a rarity;
Of scandal-mongers there is much variety.
Truth seekers will be traversing a blind alley,
They will seldom find on their way a good ally.
Public memory is proverbially short,
But hot things, unless cooled, will remain hot.
This cooling will not come by surprise
But through talk and some compromise.
If you have no merit to win,
Trying devious means is a sin,
Of elections of all kinds it is true;
But such principle is kept only by a few.