Bholoka Vaikunta

Decades of cruelty
Where we wouldn’t expect it
Kerala’s temple the holy abode
Of Vishnu on earth
Its unworthy road
In this Hindu Temple
Such tyranny there
Illicit handling
And such despair

Such disrespect
Such irreverence shown
To the Indian Elephant
And tragically its known
That a camp fairly close by
Karnataka is where
Elephants are broken
And its never fair

bound up and chained for years on end
Beaten with bars they cannot defend
Against all this squalor shackled like slaves
Ignored and unregarded
As if disparaged knaves
This is a holy place
It is about
Kindness and caring
But, there is doubt

And lots of it sadly
Mahouts like to beat
With the ankush the hooked stick
Suggest they entreat
Their whole self to
Whatever the mahout desires
And the bruising is evident
As are the fires

That burn in these elephants hearts
For they do
They suffer and cry
And all of the crew
Are seen to use force
On the shackled brigade
There is much bitterness
And it is laid

Fairly hard on the Elephants
For years on end
they are tied
Up and tortured
And it does depend

On who sees and understands
And can comprehend
Through the mists of religion
That otherwise send

Inclemency ahead of the herd
Much unconsoling before each word
Relentless cruelty upon the hour
There is no absolution nor grace
From this tower

Nemesis surely is now so aware
And every misfeasance
The elephants share
The hook and the whack
And the pain of it all
And this in the Temple
Or sometimes the hall

Without compensation
Or indemnity
Some really do get
The third degree
Some cant stretch their hinds legs
Tied to a stump
And all you can hear
Is their knackered heart, pump

So much frustration
And so much woe
Beaten and slashed at
The scars on them grow

In this so called temple
With joss burning free
A supposed sacrum
And sanctuary
A place of pilgrimage
Thats what we hear
But the cruelty
And the terrible fear

Is very surprising
For westerners who
Open their eyes and see
And who do
Witness the cruelty
See it first hand
And truthfully like me
Just don’t understand