The Song Of The Sundari Tree

We were born in the long-forgotten days of Yore

Way before any human had ever walked this shore

We are the children of the boundless sea,

The unique and lovely mangrove forests of Sundari. 

It is in the Tide Country’s mud that we dwell

All around us countless rivers swell

We dance to the daily rhythms of ebb and flow

We hold the land through tides high and low.

In those days the forests teemed with life

Jungle’s law prevailed without strife

In rivers, fish, crabs and dolphins would play

Tiger roars were heard any time of day.

Then one day the humans came to find

These lands had much to keep their pockets lined

So Sunderbans became the property

Of the esteemed East India Company.

So people rushed in here like seafoam

And thousands came to call the islands home

Along the rivers bunds and huts were built

Civilisations blossomed from the silt.

The forests that were the tiger’s territory

Were harvested for rich timber and honey

Fish found themselves in the Fisherman’s net

Who caught their fill before the sun had set.

And thus that old struggle again began

Between the forces of Animal and Man

Every day brought dangers anew

On both sides, the number of casualties grew.

But life goes on even amid strife

People farmed and fished and built themselves a life

The State brought in their system of law

As we mangroves kept looking on in awe

Then making people cry and rivers laugh

The British left by slicing the land in half

Regimes changed and new countries saw their dawn

But life in the Sunderbans simply carried on.

But we could hear the bells of danger ring

Not long after we started to feel the sting

Of the poison that polluted the rivers’ flow

Our dolphin friends were some of the first to go.

Winds grew harsh and the waters rough

And living here every day grew tough

Breaking the bunds salt waters would rush in

More and more new cyclones joined the din

Fish grew scarce and poverty more

As Nature fought back to settle the score

But still, more and more people continued to come

The number of forests cut down was truly dreadsome.

Then the vengeful sea started to rise

Bringing whole islands down to their demise

Farmlands were gone and people were left homeless

But we had only started to feel the stress.

Today we look in utter despair

As humans wreck the Earth without a care

It is Man’s arrogance and greed

That has sown our destruction’s seed.

We shout and shout but no one seems to hear

As we watch our homelands disappear

All we knew seemed to grow ever strange

Under the strain of increasing climate change.

But we say to you who will listen to our song

There is still time to try and right this wrong

Unless you open your eyes to its true worth

You will not be able to save this Earth.

We hope and pray that one day you shall see

The wisdom held by these old Sundari.