Pancha Mahabhoota 4 - Tejas (fire)

12x16 inches; Pen drawing on acid free textured paper (Click on image to enlarge)

Fire

This life that we call our own

Is neither strong nor free;

A flame in the wind of death,

It trembles ceaselessly.

And this all we can do

To use our little light

Before, in the piercing wind,

It flickers into night:

To yield the heat of the flame,

To grudge not, but to give

Whatever we have of strength,

That one more flame may live.

- Dorothea Mackeller

Pancha Mahabhoota 2 - Apas (the waters)

12x16 inches; Pen drawing on acid free textured paper (Click on image to enlarge)

The Message In A Bottle

The thirst flows through us.

In our veins,

Yours, mine, ours...

The rivers,

Tributaries,

Waterfalls,

Lakes,

Seas and oceans

Alive with life.

The tides form a cycle

Like life itself.

High then ebbs,

Washes the shore

Breaks

And flows...

Carrying the burden

Of sunken ships

And decay.

‘Pure spring water’ says the label

On bottled paranoia

Served chilled

For quenching thirst.

Free of microbes

Causing diarrhoea,

Added  

With extra mineral...

Life guaranteed.

Water bodies choke with litter.

Discarded

Empty bottles

Of ‘pure spring water’,

Toxic waste

Marinated in acid rain,

Chemical cocktails

And oil spills

Alive with death.

Numerous plastic bottles,

Float out

To sea,

Carrying a singular message:

‘If water turns to poison,

Life will cease

Without hope for recycling,

A discarded empty bottle

Floating in the sea!’

- Rudra Kishore Mandal