Democracy at Stake
Dr. R. Prabhakar
Asst. Professor
Dept. Of English
Vikrama Simhapuri University
Nellore, A.P.
People cry as the Philomela* of Ovid
Raped by the aristocrat.
O Democracy! (Liberty and Equality)
You were an exquisite bride once
And broke the shackles of monarchy
People were after your beauty
From the heathen and the non-heathen lands
Today, betrothed unto
Oligarchs, modern politicians, criminals,
despots, tyrants, and dictators –
Captivated and proved to be weak
Battering the barren womb
As ‘woman beyond her change of life, a breast
Still tender but within the womb is dry’ *
We hardly find you today
As ‘Arundhathi Nakshatra*’
Will Ambedkar born again,
To burn the constitution, when it being misused?
Can Lincoln redefine?
Democracy as
Of the exploiters
By the exploiters
For the exploiters.
O! Your chastity
Is molested by the waste landers.
Negligible fissures in you
Are the teeming sores
And the dungeons and the citadels
For sinners, modern politicians, criminals.
It is like the Pandemonium of Demonic Kraits
Demons’ Cratos.
Democracy mother!
Divorce them! Fertile your womb!
And beget the new race of humanity!
Wake us up from stony sleep
With your terrific incarnation.
You are the Phoenix*;
Die and resurrect on your cost.
This time resurrect as crystal pearl
Without iota of mole
With blank gaze.
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Glossary:
Philomela: In Greek mythology, Philomela was the sister of Procne. Procne married to Tereus, king of Thrace. As Philomela was acquisitive, Tereus molested and cut her tongue. Procne took revenge by killing her own son. Meanwhile, gods transformed Philomela into a Swallow, Pocne into Nightingale, and Terues into a Sparrow.
Womb is dry: It is the expression of AD Hope, Australian Poet, in his poem ‘Australia’
Arundhati Nakshatra: She is identified as the morning star in the Indian mythology. The couples are asked to look up the constellation symbolizing conjugal love and affection. In fact, the morning star (Arundhathi Nakshatra) doesn’t appear to any couple.
Phoneix: It is a mythical bird in classical mythology. It burns itself on a funeral pyre and rises from the ashes with rejuvenated spirit to live through another circle.