ZOOSTED

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!