Elephants up against villagers

Territory
Living space
India
like every other country we
See conflict with the people with the wild life
Thereabouts
One man who holds a camera can see

And show the world at large the sort of loathing
The ill feeling the intolerance
It’s there
Smouldering like a fearsome ember
That photograph I will remember
The one of the baby elephant
On fire And in despair

Following its mother
Desperate to get away
Feeling the dissension and bitterness
That day

On the highway Jhargram West Bengal
Two years ago
The elephants were running scared
The villagers in tow

Anger building terribly
Biplah was close by
Resigned and unassuming
With an ever thoughtful eye

Capturing the unfriendliness
Aggressors all the way
That baby just exuding fear
And panic and that day

Up against it
With the evil really following through
Burning limbs already
What was he going to do

Just follow his mother
His mother was his life
The burning not for turning
But with the extra strife

Everyone who saw this
Felt their agony
The frustration and the suffering
That everyone could see

The indiscipline to do this
For villagers we know
Their frustration it’s hard to understand
As elephant herds do grow

Irreverence comes rapidly
Humiliation too
And they take it out on the animals
Who haven’t got a clue

These trails these ways
have always been
Ingrained it’s in their soul
It’s part of the great memory
Each matriarchs true role

And so with burgeoning populations
Of course we are going to see
Conflict and then bloodshed
And it’s pachyderms who be

Suffering like this wee chap
Burning all the way
His innocence was vital
His artlessness in play
Unlawfulness and injustice
The order of this day
Like convicts they were running
Castigated by
A mob of angry villagers
That wanted them to die

Thankyou for your great work