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Mainstream, VOL LVIII No 11, New Delhi February 29, 2020

Judge Not Lest Ye be Judged

Sunday 1 March 2020, by Badri Raina

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“Judge not lest ye be judged,”
They said to the judge.
“Or, if judge you will,
Then judge at your own peril.”

The judge was young and dreamy
Eyed, wedded to fairness.
So he judged with upright mind
And feeling heart, wondering
Why the complicit could not find
The law writ large to book the butchers
Responsible for the carnage.
The judge forgot that laws are
Suited to faces, and do not necessarily
Apply in high places.

Thus, at the midnight hour, he
Received his comeuppance
From Caesar, who decreed “avaunt
And hence to another court
Where thine probity may duly
Chastise an enemy government.”

Now we know it is not for a judge
To cool an inferno, or presume
To pin blame, however sharp
Be the images of those lawmakers
Who brazenly inflame the bigoted
To let loose murder without
Let, hindrance, or shame—
All under the patriotic patronage
And strong arm of minions dressed
In sanctioned hate and lawful uniform.

Scream, scream, you pseudo-citizens
That bear the wrong name.
This part of the earth was meant
Not to accommodate your kind,
But only those whom you have
For centuries left behind.
Your god no longer rules
Deities of a different mind.

Burn city, burn, obliterate
All traces of the alien.
Burn burn with gusto
Children, women, men
Who seek to be equal partners
With a pretense republican.

Badri Raina

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