INELUCTABLY
-
Manas Bakshi (India)
When living denotes
An ineluctable episode,
Scattered clouds in the sky
Bear no sign of an early downpour --
Dry soil starts cracking
Beneath a leafless tree,
In secret
A serpent takes shelter there --
Failing to follow the way divine
Living's seldom realisation of life;
A revengeful crow
Pecked at a cat's tail,
Chased to slither down
A branch of a tree
The cat had climbed
To relish on the scavenger bird's eggs --
A lesson meant also for the lurking snake ;
Animal and reptile
Not treated alike in human eyes
Find their ways -- feline or serpentine
To survive ....
Unlike an uncompromising scribe
Ostracised for being scathing --
Recognised long after
His untimely demise !
****