How Could I Exist? (Satis Shroff)

HOW COULD I EXIST? (Satis Shroff)
 
How could I further exist
Without the basmati rice from the Ganges delta,
The garam masala from Punjab,
The olive oil from Liguria,
The Mountain cheese from Austria,
The Bauernbrot from the Schwarzwald
And the limoncello from Sirmione?
 
How could I live any more
Without the novels of Dickens, Hardy, Goethe,
The poems of Schiller, Poe, Rilke,
Wordsworth, Yeats, Burns and Keats,
Sonnets of Shakespeare?
 
How could I live
Without having seen the majestic Himalayas, Alps and Dolomites,
Felt the biting winds of the North Sea in winter,
The solace of the Atlantic Ocean in summer,
Or without having experienced the wrath of the Monsoon rain,
Or the reassuring warmth of the sun,
Which creates great wines in Ihringen and Freiburg?
 
How could I exist without having experienced the angst of imminent war
Against the teeming Chinese army in Sikkim,
The war against West and East Pakistan
And the birth of Bangladesh,
The British Gurkhas in the Falklands,
The victims of Sebrenica,
And Russians in Crimea.
 
How could I exist
Without having drunk beer 
With Nepalese, German and Czech students in Prague,
Eaten Schollen with Italian friends in Chioggia,
Pasta in Giacomo's spaghetteria near Brescia,
Crimean sekt in Freiburg with Alemannic women,
Salad with Aceto balsamico from Modena.
 
How could I exist
Without seeing the poppies grow in Flanders,
The green grass in the Normandy,
French children with wide eyes in La Rochelle
As a trawler chugs to the harbour.
There are no quarrels between the former foes.
 
How could I exist in Europe
Without witnessing the sea-dead of Lampedusa?
Men and women huddled, tossed and turned in rickety African fisherboats,
Gone to rough sea with hope of a better life in the fortress that is Europa.
This is the sad tenor of humanity,
Where no bed awaits the travel-sore, weak and poor in the northern hemisphere.
This is the turbid ebb and flow
Of haves and have-nots.