I lay on primitive mass of chocolate brown soil,
digging cupfuls of earth with brackish hand,
engraving incoherent designs with big toe,
smearing my face with slippery mud,
envisaging,
the splendor of the fragrant rose,
the timeless chirping of humming sparrow,
nocturnal movements of colored reptile,
sedate swim of lethal alligator with king sized jaw,
prolific sprint of striped leopard for prey,
non invasive walk of multi-legged insects,
green light radiating from twin eyeballs of owl,
entangled network of crisscrossed antelope horn,
mammoth silky strands of African spider web,
pure white monstrous egg of wailing vulture,
black haired apes feeding on jackfruit,
slender necked peacock exposing kingly feather,
pouch bellied kangaroo racing at whirlwind speed,
fleet footed squirrels eluding acerbic rays of light,
i suddenly feel dirty, coated with pungent clay mud,
the vigils of darkness taking a stranglehold on murky
light,
prompting me to climb wooden rungs of my treetop
house,
sleep in tranquil, snore like a beast, on elastic wood
of forked tree branch.


(c) (r) copyright-2004, by nikhil parekh. all rights reserved.