Presenting two poems by Raju Z. Moray, one on the many colours, and the absent colour, of Holi; and the other on elections free and fair, sans laissez-faire.
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Festival of Colours
It’s a festival of colours
Joy is need of the hour
Let us colour everybody
By colourable exercise of power!
Let’s start with favourites
Those who can win, had won
The safest colour for them
Is the much-revered saffron
Let us then paint enemies
Every ‘can be’ or ‘has been’
They spoil our environment
But let us paint them green!
The marginals and peripherals
Of every shade and hue
Can safely be assigned
Their own choice of blue!
Those who are troublesome
The real ache in our head
All those smarter than us,
Should be painted red!
All the chameleons
Turncoats, dirty fellows
We too use them at times
But dunk them in yellows
To use permitted colours
To make up what we lack
We summon the painters
Who come dressed in black!
After we paint opponents
We bathe for public sight
Perfumed, polished, clean
We then appear in white.
Free and fair
They are trying to conquer
Whatever they came and saw
Which begs the very question
Is this the Rule of Law?
Persecuting opponents
Dumping them in jail
Ensuring they stay put
Opposing grant of bail
Having nicely digested
Cash received on all counts
The best thing to do is
Freeze opponents accounts
From the hounds of authority
Which power can shield?
Will blindfolded Lady Justice
Ensure level playing field?
Some battle-worn warriors
Do try to embolden
Tell milords on their face
‘Your reign is not golden!’
Elections are democratic
To question who would dare?
The moot question however is:
Can they be free and fair?
