The Lesson Poem by anujan raja

Father walked ahead,
The path was narrow,
Bushes thick grew on either side
Dark, tangled and mysterious,
In the sticky gloom of the dusk
Vaguely aware of the creeping fear
I walked behind,
My gaze locked
On his bare heels,
Barely visible in the dark.

I had to know
How the path lay before me,
Father knew it well
Like the palm of his hand.
Besides he carried a torch
His strides were slow and steady
He knew the path so well
From long experience
I just followed his steps,
He was my mentor.
Quite abrupt it was
I knew not what the matter was
Father had stopped
And stepped to one side
And flashed his light on one spot.
Lit brilliantly in the flashlight beam
I saw it,
I saw the sibilant hiss
The raised hood with the fearsome mark
Ready to strike?

No, I said,
Don’t panic, don’t run,
Stand still.
The raised hood,
A dire warning it was
Don’t approach, don’t attack!
I go my way, you go your’s!
They say snakes are harmful.
To whom?

Father walked ahead,
The path was narrow,
Bushes thick grew on either side
Dark, tangled and mysterious,
In the sticky gloom of the dusk
Vaguely aware of the creeping fear
I walked behind,
My gaze locked
On his bare heels,
Barely visible in the dark.

I had to know
How the path lay before me,
Father knew it well
Like the palm of his hand.
Besides he carried a torch
His strides were slow and steady
He knew the path so well
From long experience
I just followed his steps,
He was my mentor.
Quite abrupt it was
I knew not what the matter was
Father had stopped
And stepped to one side
And flashed his light on one spot.
Lit brilliantly in the flashlight beam
I saw it,
I saw the sibilant hiss
The raised hood with the fearsome mark
Ready to strike?

No, I said,

To man? You are not so sure.
And isn’t it the other way?
MAN is harmful,
To whom? You ask,
To ALL, to all God’s other creatures.You are sure.

The beam of light diverted
Slowly, so very slowly,
To the bush
The hood lowered,
I watched under a spell,
The serpent moved
Slithered into the bush,
Into the mysterious darkness,
From where he had come

Father had resumed his steps
Slow but steady they were,
He didn’t speak a word
But I knew he was teaching me,
And I knew I had learnt yet another lesson.