Shail talks about the dangerous loss to marine life in a ship capsizing in Kerala; wonders about the connection between palm trees and lightning in Bihar and talks about injustice meted out to the victims of a French doctor pedophile exclusively for Different Truths.
Drowning poison
The Titanic took with it all the fanfare,
the luxury and charm of a ship
sail on a picnic trail.
The MSC ELSA-3,
carrying 643 metal containers
and hazardous cargo sinks
near the coast in Alappuzha
in Kerala, a Liberian ship disaster,
an environmental crisis getting faster.
Marine life in danger.
Livelihood of fishing folk a wager
like a ticking bomb waiting to explode.
Tiny plastic pebbles being washed
ashore, a gateway to nature’s creation
going awry.
Another Titanic in the offing
except that this time,
lives spared, a cargo ship wrecked apart.
An oil leak possibly, containers bursting
open, swallowing up marine life
gobbling up water like a thirsting desert.
The God of lightning favours palm trees
Lord Indra must be annoyed with Bihar.
Or, Thor and Zeus simply enraged
otherwise, why would a state
suddenly be with lightning, caged?
27 die in thunderstorm despite
warning to stay indoors.
Chopping of clusters of trees
stated to be the reason for the
lightning strikes, no nature protection spikes.
Sources ‘logically’ suggest prohibition
in the state a cause for the lightning
strikes. No palm trees to make toddy from.
No protection from the nature’s fury in full form.
Palm trees chopped in anger and exasperation.
The large expanse of the sky not sufficient
to banish Indra’s fuming rage.
‘Plant more trees,’ states the state;
palm trees especially included
as the moisture in them absorbs
heat showing the lightning
their path to defeat.
Satan in white, judgment just not right
When children are sick and suffering
the last thing one expects
is a pedophile doctor on the sides lurking
who feeds on innocence and disease
to satiate his lusting satanic desires.
A former gastric surgeon from France,
Le Scouarnec, now 74
imprisoned for his hideous gore
of childhood 299 in all;
watching this sadistic spectacle why didn’t
the Universe stall?
The French court not strong enough
to punish a predator on the prowl;
a mere 20 years is the punishment
for this unethical, insensitive foul
in a game of medical trust
and a child patient’s life crust.
No sign of remorse
pretending to have forgotten
lives destroyed, trauma inflicted.
In 2030, the doctor comes out
free to destroy
once again,
injustice handed out
by a legal system gone berserk.
References:
Picture design Anumita Roy
Shail Raghuvanshi is a poet, freelance journalist, copyeditor, voice actor, and artist with 30 years of experience in various media. She has worked as the Cultural Correspondent for India’s first integrated media company, PLUS Channel, and has written course material for Madurai Kamaraj University’s Post Graduate Programme in Advertising and Public Relations. She has also been a coach of Communicative English. She has published poems, short stories, and articles in leading magazines and anthologies.
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