Pariah Dog

Between lights unfiltered, the dark of dusk

Shadows swelter, in search of what?

When we were friends and foes in arms

Thrown out were you, in days long gone

And now in eyes of hazy focus

Haunt the dreams of long-lost flourish

Yet I cannot refrain from holding

To seek of mine abject your scolding

So in a cycle, we repeat

The cry of growth, attack, retreat

You cannot stay the hand once fed

This mouth of mine you surely bred

Is it fair in the depth of night

You hold a candle to my plight?

My deeds though dark and heavy fought

Are not so reminiscent of your thought?

Between lights unfiltered, the bright of dawn

Steps the pariah, lips undrawn

This poem is a post-colonial response to the Global North, India’s growing entanglement with Western scrutiny