**mercenaries! Poem by RAJ NANDY

**MERCENARIES!

We are like mercenaries of olden days,
Selling ourselves to the highest bidder, -
without complain!
Be it in love, in a marriage, or for a job;
Even in friendship we look for profit and
gain!
We have lost that sense of ‘shame’!
We no longer succumb to any tender feelings
or foolish sentiments!
We are cold and calculating tracking the
shares and stocks,
As ultra realist and materialists we try to be
in step, -
Keeping up with the Joneses next door -
and the world of date!
And as for our soul, like Dr Faustus*, -
Seeking all the pleasures of this world and
fair Helen’s lips,
We have bartered our soul - for Beelzebub+
to keep!
And as we swim between the Devil and the deep
sea, -
Our short-term possessions becomes his+ ever-
lasting gain you see? ! ! !
-Raj Nandy
New Delhi
05 May 09
(*In Christopher Marlow’s ‘Dr Faustus’, the
Doc. sells his soul to the Devil+, in exchange
for all the earthly pleasures! There is a beautiful
poetic reference to Helen of Troy there!)