The woman's wish...

(This is a touching story about an old woman who loved her village more than anything else..)

Long ago in China, there was this village called Manho

Through the heart of the village, flowed the river Hwang-Ho..

And if there existed something like a necessary evil

The river was exactly that to the village and its pupil..

It gave them life it gave them food

It gave them death when it was rude..

It fed them with rice, it gave them the wheat

But when came the floods, all felt the heat...

And so Hwang-Ho to Manho, was a thing everyone feared

In its awe were the villagers, it wasn't the thing they jeered...

And the sleepy little village, in the year of our Lord

Lived a woman, aged 100, with shiny hair like a cord...

Since time immemorable, she had lived and she was there

Once she was a shy bride, now she was the mother of care...

She was alone and, she didn't even  remember correctly

That when did her husband, "you know", became heavenly...

But there was something that made her go on, even with a cracked rib 

The village was her kith and kin, and so nobody saw her sob or crib...

(...A pause...)

It was an ominous day my dear, never was it so dark

The cat meaowed, and the dog frightened with its bark...

There was something wrong, as if the lull before the hush

Through the big gates of the dam, water would now  gush...  

The river never soared so high, in a hundred year  or so

The devil had finally arrived, and the fate sealed "oh no" ...

Tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock

The water in the dam now could touch the flying hawk...

Panick spread like wildfire, people began to flee

In that moment I wonder, God where was thee...

It was the announcement of the disaster to come

Manho would be history, all thought  and some...

(There was one escape though...)

One of the walls of the dam spelled doom for Manho land

Though on the second wall, lay a desert of dust and sand...

And if somehow  the village could be saved from wreck and death

If the second wall broke, not the first one, was the villagers' faith...

And so when our old good lady heard about this misfortune 

Her heart was filled with sorrow, and her bosom with gloom...

And in her heart she now  decided, its not going to end like this

"I lost my love once, now I wont let the bear swallow the fish"...

She thought about the government helicopter, which came there to save

And she told the pilot about her plan and said  "Come on !! Be brave" ... 

The pilot in a fix, and in the dichotomy of the lady's words

"Dont do this, old lady !!" His core shook like feather of birds...

But the lady was inconsolable, adamant in her talk

She would defeat the river and no way let it mock...

So along with the pilot, the two flew past the dam's other side

And reached the other gate, with the desert to welcome the ride...

And now the lady told the pilot to fly back to home

And now she was alone, the guardian of the dome...

Her eyes were  a little moist, she knew what to do

There was no doubt now, and flew across the loo...

"I have lived such a good life" she did whisper and mumble

Not even for a second, did her hands shake or did fumble...

And now took a deep breadth and remembered all her good fate

"Alas, every good thing had a end", and opened the ill-fated gate...

(And...)

Water, water everywhere, water gushed through her lungs

It tossed her here it tossed her there, and tore apart her gums...

And so the lady, our good old lady, saved Manho that day

And the village survived, its children live, run and play...

The holy sacrifice of the lady would be remembered till the time

Come another such story, and we will have another poem to rhyme...