Black beauties in chains- Before the ticket counters, A long queue does creep To scatter near the black wonders. Ears and tails always move, Ruminating the rhythms of forest. Elephants are inside the fort, Exposed to the sky barest. I hear the hushed emotions In the clinking of chains. Hearts smolder in; Eyes emit lava of pains. Burning red wild flowers And tickling streams, Each elephant longs I know: But dreams die in chains. Anakotta, an old fort near Guruvayur in India is a sanctuary, where many elephants have been housed. All of them are in chains. First published by Forward Poetry.