Birthday ********* Poem by Sathya Narayana

On its new birthday
the older Banyan says
'Oh look at my longer boughs and buttresses;
behold my wider trunk
with newly gained whorl-muscle!
My roots are now stout
with cleaner hollows
sipping more saps from the earth.
I can stand now straighter and steady,
unbending to wild winds.
I can host now more birds and monkeys
can shelter few more tired wayfarers! '


What can but some humans show and say
on their new birthdays?
With sagged muscles
and narrower minds
faltering in steps...
can only manage
a simper wickeder.