Reminiscences of a Fuehrer…

I evoked dread in them all,

No…..actually I used to!

’twas long ago

even memory betrays me.

One day, I was their pride;

a symbol of strength, power, and might to some,

whereas to some, I epitomized beauty and even identity.

An inseparable part of their lives, I was.

Punctuated a canvas sometimes,

I’ve often enjoyed my part in many folklore too;

mascot to innumerable events across the globe,

they’ve all been slaves to my charismatic woo.

And then, there’ve been times when

creatures much weaker to me have

challenged the mother nature and

forced me into an undeserved brutal penitentiary

– the ugly thankless trespassers !

There are times when I so desperately wishI could rant my vitriol onto them,

but I can’t….

I can’t articulate the way they do, the trespassers.

There are times when I so desperately wish

I could urge and plead them, the trespassers,

to go back to their land and leave my haven,

as my family, to my grief and their joy,

reduces to a meagre fourteen hundred and eleven !!!

There are times when I so desperately wish

the halcyon years returned.

I became the fuehrer once again

and they all kept distance,

respecting my identity and dreading my presence.

(This poem talks of the image and respect Tigers had/commanded(still do, for some!) in an Indian society not so long ago and dwells on their current plight.)