The Convert Reflects

The priest said I must have killed
a holy snake in my previous life;
and so my crops don't grow and
the cow died, and the baby too.
For a hundred rupees, the priest
will plead with the Gods for mercy.
If I had a hundred rupees, the baby
would have had milk, and lived.

'What good is a God that needs a bribe'
the missionary asks in a gentle voice
'You did not have a previous life
and killed no snakes; come to me
Jesus will save you and end your woes.'
So I went; but even with a new name,
new prayer and God, the crop failed
and my eldest son became very sick.

When I asked the missionary why,
he told me it was my fate to suffer
because of a man he called Adam
and the apple that was eaten by him:
all this at the behest of a snake.
And so I now pay for his mistakes.
What matter which God I worship?
It is snakes who determine my fate!

Chastisement For A Proud And Flawed Pink Zinnia

Careless smudge of Heavenly hand
You blot of pink on canvas green
By all but one passer by unseen
Yet now the beloved of the land

You smile brightly, but you mistook
Chance for a more deserved fate
Who would ever think you great
Had one not stopped by to look?

The Love Song of a Penniless Student

My two ears know no sweeter sound
than your casual “so see you around.”
My sad heart leaps out of all its sorrow
knowing you’ll wait for me tomorrow.
Come hail or snow, I’ll be there at eleven.
(For where you are is my personal heaven.)
We’ll meet, without a thought for the day’s inevitable graying
For your files need reviewing, and boss, my bills need paying.