The Law Of The Jungle, The Law Of The Land Poem by Kishore Asthana

A conference was held in the forest to find out what type of governance should be followed in the jungle. They asked a Saras, who had travelled widely, to give his views:

The Saras said,
I've returned from an ancient land
Where beaten lions
walk the streets
Begging for bones
Already gnawed
By Hyenas

As is their wont
The Hyenas laugh
even look at the lions at times
But keep on feeding
On the Mother
Still alive

Our eyes met once
And I could see
Her pain, her pearly tears
Greedily licked
By the unholy

I asked someone
How come, the Hyenas
Rule over all
And she replied,
'Because the sheep voted them in.'
_______________________________

I asked her, why
And she said,
What else can sheep do?





There was a time
When making love was fine
A physical imperative
Greedily grabbed
And soon forgotten
In dreamless sleep
Till the next chance

But suddenly I find
So much love
Before it is made
That lying entwined
Is beyond the body
And often
Beyond the mind
Recalled in dreams
Gentle and kind
IT would be no surprise
If it was
Almost a foretaste
Of paradise

Kishore Asthana