Compensation is given only as much
as the market price decides;
even if a lifetime has passed,
mixing blood and sweat into the soil
to build a home or a field—
the value of blood, the value of sweat
is not determined,
there is no price for them in the market.
Compensation is not given even for the nests
hanging on the trees, for the broken
eggs, for the dying newborn birds
either; the lush green grass
that is life for some creatures,
some shelters that lie
beneath the clusters of trees—
but compensation
for them too is not given.
The winds too receive no compensation;
wind, water, and life have no rights—
these are for the sake of the country,
whose true meaning the capitalists understand.
They have the right
to buy all shelters
for just one rupee.
Compensation will be borne by the country;
the country has no right
to take the full price.
Whatever was given to whomever,
even that much is fixed for them;
the rest is their right—
those whose names it is not my right to take.