The Banyan of Justice and Its Winged Kin

 

I stand beneath the banyan —

 bloated, sly, and wide,

Its roots like clauses twisted deep where silent hopes abide.

A courtroom tree, its shadow sprawls like some eternal stage,

And I, a day bat in legal robes, perform from cage to cage.

By dawn, we stir — 

my winged kin — 

in coats like priestly shrouds,

We hang from limbs like legal grapes, reciting writs in clouds.

Our silence hums with pending fees, 

our flutters thick with form,

Each summons filed, each plea rehearsed, becomes its own reform.

Some fly for truth, with sonar sharp, their conscience clean and clear,

They dive through dusty precedents and make injustice fear.

They see the law as holy work —

 a vow, a torch, a trust,

Their arguments like honest blades that never gather rust.

I’ve flown with them, those noble bats —

 their wings a steady prayer,

Their filings sing like lullabies that soothe the gasping air.

They take no bribes, 

they twist no facts, 

they speak what must be heard,

Each clause they draft, a quiet hymn; each ruling, like a bird.

But others beat a different path, where currency is king,

Their radar blinks for wealth alone, not justice, truth, or sting.

They flap like bankers chasing fruit, where judgments can be spun,

And treat the law like chewing gum — 

to stretch and twist for fun.

I’ve seen them grin through ethics boards with clauses up their sleeve,

Then bill a widow six full hours to tell her she should grieve.

They sip on fear like vintage wine, while promising the stars,

And trade in justice like it’s stock — 

with monthly retainer bars.

So here I hang, a legal bat, mid-branch and mid-regret,

One wing soaked in decency, the other in the debt.

By day, I dream of justice pure;

 by night, I file and spin,

And wonder if I serve the law — 

or merely cash it in.

The banyan looms, unchanged, unmoved —

 its limbs both kind and cruel,

It nurtures saints and scoundrels both — 

one courthouse, one rule.

And I — 

a flapping paradox, both cynic and believer —

Drift through India’s crowded courts,

 half-monk and half deceiver.