It’s sad but generally true,
You never know what I feel –
But to understand what fortune had true,
For me, it makes your head reel.
“Imagine there is no country,”
No boundary around you –
Imagine there is no people
Only animals, and just you.
“You may tell me I am a dreamer
But I am not the only one –“
There are hundreds of poachers –
Gunning big cats and having fun!
But behold her single in the cage,
Yon solitary striped cat –
I scratch my head and pick my nose
Wonder, “Holy Guns! What is that ?”
I look around in muted disbelief
Is this what they had in store?
When I was caught in Terai , by Forest Guard Chief
I was irritated, helpless and very sore!
“Is there any way out of here, ”
Said the guard to the chief –
“The poacher goes no where,
He gets no relief!”
The crooked smile was enough,
To tell me something was amiss –
Who knew they’ll put sleeping pills
In my evening dish!
Smuggled out of my holding cell
I was dumped in here;
Must have thought the chief
Let him rot in despair.
And so I wake, heavy in my head
No rifle beside my head stead
Facing that horrible cat, swishing her tail
Remembering her family, whom I sent to hell.
“How does it feel
To be on your own?
And no direction home?”
A sitting duck of thirteen stone?
The grills are grey, in my head
They are meshes stopping back my courage
Forget fear, and run to despair
Stuck in Alipore zoo, that’s what you do.
Do I see a hippo round the corner?
May be I am hallucinating
But truly stuck with a rhino is better,
Than my stupid trespassing.
“Oh! Why did I not let them go?”
The questions never come to head –
What happens when Lady Cat realises
I’m here, fills me with dread!
The birds sing their song
As I wait for the final gong.
The one swipe of her pointy claws
That will forever end my flaws.
I can smell the creepy croc
On the enclave behind the bloc
Stuck with it I might do a Bond
As we all do live only twice.
Ah! She gently purrs,
My blood freezes, gives me shivers
You come here to watch animals
And I soon die, greatest poacher among mammals!
I have only ten more minutes
And then she’ll smell fresh meat!
I think of a fitting poem to remember myself
Like heroes of days before.
My time comes to end, my epic poem stalls.
I know I am not Homer,
But I do give it a try –
I wake up here in Alipore zoo –
That’s right – Its true! They left me here.
And in the tiger’s cage where I am put,
I put in no fight though I am scared!
Here ends my war with my fate,
The poacher falls – in heroic despair!