This poem was written by the author to express his outrage at the way a leopard was burned alive recently.
If you would like to bring the perpetrators to justice…sign the petition below..
http://www.greenpeacex.in/petitions/leopard-burned-alive-in-uttarkhand-india-please-do-something
hardly a day goes by
and you are already a symbol
a symbol of flickering outrage
in front of a screen
a symbol of impotent dismay
in an ergonomic chair
hardly a day goes by
and i wonder what they did
with the remains
i wonder what they would do
with that smouldering mess
then i remember
hell never has a garbage problem
i don’t wonder how you felt
it is not my place to imagine
your ordeal
it is not my right to feel
your pain
i cannot claim i know
your terror
you are only an animal
and i am a devil
and everyone knows devils
do not suffer or feel pain or fear
hardly a day goes by
when i do not quote
Mephistopheles
to myself
quietly
in my head
hardly a day goes by
when i do not wonder
if my master has noticed
that i am shirking
and what my
punishment
will be
but i am a devil
and i cannot suffer
like the innocent do
like you did.
**
Jayaprakash Satyamurthy lives in Bangalore. He writes various kinds of corporate content for a living. He also writes fiction. He plays the bass guitar for a band and he and his wife Yasmine work for causes they believe in, support hordes of cats and dogs, and each other’s many dreams. Jayaprakash also maintains a sporadic blog at http://aaahfooey.blogspot.com