The First Right to Forcible Seizure

I am a refugee from Kashmir,
having been forced to abdicate
and take flight.

No sooner had I left
than my house was plundered,
my kindly neighbour informs.
Disembowelled one by one
of all its contents-
furniture, fittings, fixtures-
right under his nose.
‘They would kill me
if I intervened,’
he explains.

Mr. X from somewhere downtown
has moved into my house,
removed my nameplate from the door
and affixed his own,
so says my good neighbour.
He can stand it no more,
he is biting his nails,
tearing his innocent heart out,
as he now repents for having demurred
and not being the first to occupy my house.

To be fair to the good Samaritan
he never had an eye on my house
but having shared a common boundary,
he argues,
hadn’t he the right,
the first right,
to the forcible seizure of my house?

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