Keeladi

Have you sat in the dark
Not wanting to sleep
Though it's long past
When you would be asleep ---
Who was the quiet one
Whose name remains
On the potsherd, you wonder
From centuries before
Who taught him to write
All the others too
Potters, star-watchers, shepherds
Living in an urban settlement
By the river that yielded riches
That spoke across time
Women who burst forth in poetry
Who were so wealthy
They threw golden jewellery
To chase away poultry birds
Now we know where they lived
Loved, dreamed and died
Now can they be no more dismissed
As a figment of the imagination
Of febrile bards of yore ---
This was our cradle
Where we heard the words
That wouldn't let us sleep.