The Gargoyle mouth begins to fill

With murderous crowds—

Arms akimbo with intent to kill.

Drops of rain struggling to escape

Turn to blood.  

At one quarantined side

Gentlemen with abject authority on their

Grim faces look like thieves caught

In the act. They slump rather than

Sit erect.

Those whose deep pockets and loyal

Hounds hold high offices

In thrall look down in contempt

At the upheavals from the Gargoyle’s

Palate, with whips of tyranny

Firmly in their palms of state.

 

Beneath the Gargoyles

Volcanoes come into their own.

Crimson tongues of vengeance

Begin to spread into hideouts

Where innocent men, women

And children moan love’s

Bonfire from the dull eye of

The reptilian throne.

 

In the mind alone does

A stream flow, that flows into

A desired unknown.


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Badri Raina is a well-known commentator on politics, culture and society. His columns on the Znet have a global following. Raina taught English literature at the University of Delhi for over four decades and is the author of the much acclaimed Dickens and the Dialectic of Growth. He has several collections of poems and translations. His writings have appeared in nearly all major English dailies and journals in India.

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