Javed Latoo – Two Poems – The Galway Review

Dr. Javed Latoo is a senior medical practitioner and a medical editor based in the UK. In his spare time, Dr. Latoo writes poetry. His poems have been published in various literary journals as well as in medical journals. His first collection of poems is Gushing Fountain: A Collection of Poems (2015). He also has co-edited and contributed to a poetry collection called Bird on a Wire (2016) with the support of National Health Services (NHS) UK.

Of Democracy

Dear friend,
I am writing with a heavy heart.
When democracy arrived into
Our streets and hearts;
With a sign of empowerment
Inscribed on her forehead;
Heralding rising of dawn,
New hopes and promises,
New wings for our dreams;
Tears jeweled our eyes;
Our adulation was almost divine.

After all upheaval and ravage,
The face of this bruised nation
Smiled like beaming stars.
We greeted democracy with
Cheerful songs.
Carried her on our tiring shoulders.
Built a consecrated house for her on
Our bodies and skulls
With our plebeian blood and sweat
Filled it with ideals of Equality and Justice.

Little did our credulous minds knew
Her cloak shall hide new dung heaps;
Her womb shall deliver new tyrants,
Earls and Dukes;
Her crown shall be studded with
Crows of bad aspirations
Avatars of bigotry.
All speechifying in the attires of democracy.
Lowering a silver-footed people’s princess into
A deceptive hag with little allure.

Of journalist

I know you can write beautiful pieces
Get published in newspapers;
You are, after all, a journalist
Employed to write for the papers.
It would be better if you could
Primarily write about the pressing issues
Facing an ordinary man
Become his voice.

It would be far better
If you could also become a voice of
Vulnerable sections like
Children, women, disabled, poor,
Elderly, minorities and oppressed;
Without any dregs of bigotry
Showing what is at the bottom of the pot.
It would be even more valuable

If you could write about
The issues in our backyard
Rather than problems in other galaxies.
It would be grand if
You could display probity
In your job as well
When carrying a moral telescope
To upbraid or judge other’s affairs.

And if you are not preoccupied
Feeding the duck of gluttony by
Self-serving proximity to
Politicians, celebrities and rich;
You would realise
You have an excellent job of upholding
Our rights, justice, and democracy;
That needs the shoulders of an ox.