What Do Tyrants Know Poem by Devesh Path Sariya

Do tyrants know that Mussolini's mouth,
Once spewing venom, was stuffed
with a dead rat and publicly
peed on by a woman.
His dead body was hung out in the open
above the mob, howling
'Higher, raise him a little higher'

It was only Mussolini's tragic death
that prompted Hitler to order his confidantes
not to let his body end up in the hands of the public
and to burn it immediately after his suicide.

I want to ask all the tyrants that
How do they truly feel when they embrace their wives or lovers,
when they tenderly touch their children's faces?
How do they feel when they stand gazing at
the portraits of their deceased parents,
reflecting on the cherished days of their youth?

Do they realise that
other people have families and relatives
just like they do?

Do they suffer during times of illness,
or feel pain from an ant's bite?
Do they know that people pray for their demise
rather than their well-being?

In their brutal acts of butchery,
Do they momentarily forget
that death is not a hypothesis
and they can also be slashed to death
just like any other human being.

Only time will tell what happens,
but remember that,
Like Egypt, every square in our cities
smoulders with a potential
to transform into another Tahrir Square.

(Translation from Hindi by Shivam Tomar)