Road-widening

Old ones are demolished

New ones are planned

Trees are felled

Dividers are installed

Traffic is diverted, obstructed

Dust and debris are scattered

Accidents are invited

Glares and abuses, received unfazed

Footpaths are narrowed

Illegal constructions, obstructions

Objections, suggestions, bull-dozed

The means hardly matter

when the ends are ‘oh’-so thoroughly justified!

Lanes are marked, demarcated

Only to be bypassed, trespassed

Roads are widened for citizen’s succor

Not for urchins to play cricket-n-soccer

Hardly has one been widened

Then it’s encroached upon, burdened

Illegal constructions, obstructions

arise like the Phoenix, unfazed

And the cycle continues

Road-widening – Maddening?

Does it hold any meaning?
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The copyright of this poem is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan