Hath Not A Dog Eyes? Poem by Nayanika Kundu

I dart aimlessly through the labyrinth of concrete edifices
With my little parched tongue hanging limp.
The scorched land all around me is barren;
There is no sign of life anywhere.
However, I must flee
Far, far away from those men.
They come with meshes and muzzles in hand
And want to seize me.
But I don't want to lose my liberty,
Like so many of my kind, have lost their lives
Although they had desperately tried to flee.
They say that we are man's best friend
But I do not see them acknowledging their own words through their actions.
I sense malice in their intentions.
They desire to reign all over the world
But did the Almighty create us to be ruined by the humans?
They live, and so do we,
In the vast expanses of this world.
I know well that we are weaker than them...
But we have also been bestowed with life.
And so I ask you, why should they persecute us?
Why should we ruthlessly be spurned by them?
Why should we be treated with such hatred and contempt?
Do we all not have the divine force of life in us?
And therefore, should we not be treated as equals?