The rock stood there,

Seeing kings rise and fall,

For fifteen hundred years,

People come and go.

Men built temples,

And stone arches,

Palaces and houses,

More men came,

And drew fountains,

And mosques

And gardens in the barren land,

Those after them,

Riding on horse backs,

Brought with them,

The sharp edges and burning flames.

They cut down that,

That others built before,

Took away their loot,

To build elsewhere,

The land’s glittering marvels,

They made their gain

Only to leave the land,

Barren once again.

(Inspired by a recent visit to Karnataka in South India, which has been the seat of power for many dynasties in the history of India – from the Mauryas, Satavahanas, Hoysalas, Cholas, and later a line of Mughal kings, who used it as a source of stone and gems for building monuments in north India.)

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Read more poems here.

Poetry lover? Check out Gitanjali: A Collection of Indian Poems by the Nobel Laureate