The Role Of Conscience Poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

Conscience is built by conditioning,
On the base brought by heredity.
Conditioning is the result of the known,
From which the knowledge has been formed.

Knowledge, the accumulation of knowing,
Consists of ideas and opinions
And a sense of continuity of the known,
Influenced by the values nurtured.

Human conscience built is not alike
Among the people across the globe.
Its subtlety is the cross reflection
Of the value the society commands.

Conscience pricks one at the first instance,
And in subsequent recurrences thereon
Will go to sleep like one’s nose that reacts
When one has entered a fish market.
19.04.2015