The silent scream

In India the majestic souls
Are tortured beyond belief
Lousy owners angry mahouts
They just get no relief
From anger and frustration
Metered out each day
Temples are no place for the wild
Elephants some say

And those that say this are the few
Who care for animals, they
Know the gentle giant
Is suffering more each day
No circus zoo or temple
Should ever house these souls
In chains around all of their feet
For whats seen as controls

These animals are tortured every single day
Their injuries are covered up
It is the temples way
Of getting out of trouble
By covering each
wound
With damask and with cotton shrouds
These wild souls are marooned

A temple is no paradise
Its a torture chamber where
The silent scream cannot be heard
But of course its always there
Mahouts that strike to injure
Owners who underfeed
Admirers who fail to notice
Those elephants who bleed

Some get gradually angry and break
They truly do
They might be in these heavy chains
But they can hurt folk too
And these poor souls feel the ankush
It tears into their hide
And many a elephant goes to sleep
Crying deep inside

They stand for hours in hot and humid
Climes that do them harm
They have abscesses and poisoned woundsAnd ailments
And no balm or cream or medication
To ease the pain they feel
They have cataracts and they cannot see
And their skin it does reveal
Dermatitis worms and bugs and bites
And sun burn too
These elephants are suffering
Their cruelty all through

We have no dominion over them
They are gentle souls in fact
Beaten and chained and awfully strained
Sometimes they react
Badly on processions injuring those who
Are riding on their backs on leading them
A threat not new

The silent scream is everywhere
Look deeply in their eyes
You can feel their agony
These great souls they are wise
They cry their souls are aching
The frustration of it all
And temple life is threateningly awful
For they do call

Out to all and sundry
But few around will see
Because its a religious place
The government cant be
Around them as it would be say in circuses or zoos
So the elephants are suffering
And as I say they lose

It sometimes and go wild again
Frustrated to hell
Having to suffer all that noise
Something they don’t do well
On top of it they are beatenWith
The ankush which does hurt
The damage to the skin is vast
And then of course the dirt

Infections then are painful
And no veterinary care
And so of course it gets worse and worse
Not even a prayer
Is said for any elephant
They suffer day and night
Standing on their painful legs
Which just cannot be right

Every temple elephant neglected
You can say
They are kept on short chains
Every single day
They cannot sit they cannot lie
They cannot wash they cannot die
All they do is hour after hour
Suffer so and lose their power

And there is no guilt
In these hindu places
Yet the transgression on their faces
The mahouts really are wicked too
And there is nothing the elephants now can do
But run amok and end up dead
There is no conscience
And that being said

Elephants suffer day after day
Night after night
In every way
These temple people many are wrong
They are worthless souls
And all along
Their roguery and rascality
Goes unattended physically

There is no respect not any more
No adoration just one big flaw
Humiliation and a true outrage
And torment and torture off the page
The incompetent are all about
Meritless in so much doubt
And then the rotten through and through
Who are spiteful to them in
What they do
Humanity has lost its sense of right
Sympathy is out of sight
There are few guardian angels left
These temples really so bereft

Of caring souls they are all but gone
The altruistic that once stood upon
The roadside really loyal and true
Are tragically now very few

The elephants lot is very poor
And the public seemingly ignore
They don’t notice the limping
And tears of woe
The blood on the road
They don’t want to know
Animal rights and the temple scene
Is less and less they are all more mean
Its ostentation that does conceal
The afflictions that latterly they reveal

Palakkado Temples in Kerala
Are suffering the vile despAir
And all the elephants imprisoned there
Are suffering through lack of care
Silent cries and blood shot eyes
Wounds and abscesses tell the wise
We must stop this we must all
Save the elephants and hear their call
The silent scream is everywhere
Please everybody be aware
Listen and you just might feel
Those tears and feel what they reveal