A Song 75

At Marine Drive
in Arabian Sea,
Kabir and Tuka,
Jasmine, Jehangir,
turned city criers.
1700.
To be
decent,
To be fair,
in some measure,
unsure.
2016.
To be a Muslim
anywhere;
To be a non-white,
somewhere;
To be a gay,
everywhere;
To be a woman,
wherever;
To be a Dalit poor,
forever;
To be
a child,
a tree,
an animal,
is
not to be
by any measure.