Teesta Review: A Journal of Poetry, Volume 5, Number 1. May 2022. ISSN: 2581-7094
Scapegoat
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| Image courtesy: fortune.com |
On
disinterested and innocent animals
Lastly
dropped the celebrating knives
As
if they were falling on cakes.
Men
drenched in delusion, swear
To
sacrifice them on the altar of God
In case of embodiment of their
dreams:
Their
demands elongated like rubber,
Ranging
without any beginning and ends.
Sometimes
they leave it to His discretion
Sometimes they go on to demand:
“What
should I beseech?
Omniscient
and omnipresent You are,
You
know what is hidden
In the inner core of my heart.
But
You have to listen, look after all,
Lest
You forget me by mistake
So
I swear to sacrifice a goat
In
Your pious premise
Upon fulfillment of my wishes and
desires.
Today
exam-result has come out,
My
friend stands first in the class.
Now
he has to translate the promise into action:
Champagne,
roasted chicken and fried fish
Would serve and spoil in
celebration.
It’s
marriage of my bosom friend,
All
arrangements made to a tee to greet;
Club,
restaurant and bar booked,
One night fish and the next day
meat.”
Wherever
or whenever the music of celebration
Transmits
and whispers into the animals’ ears,
Getting
them heavily loaded with doubt and fear:
Only
God knows who will have next turn;
And
who will have to watch and mourn.