When the sparrows left

No one noticed

When the sparrows left

It was just another 

smoggy winter morning
People drove their cars

dropped their children off

At air conditioned schools

Where they learned

Pollution is a bad thing
It was just another 

smoggy winter morning

And stuck on flyovers

No one noticed 

That they spent more time on roads

Than with family and friends
So the city of traders

Traded its sparrows, 

for SUVs

And children’s lungs

for Diwali firecrackers

Pollution was good for business
And as a million bonfires

lit up in Punjab and Haryana

Delhi bought air purifiers,

masks, cough syrup 

and tweeted in anger
But it all started 

On a smoggy winter morning

When the last sparrow left 

No one noticed,

As that ever useful smog

Hid us from our conscience
-Author Unknown