Civilisation
Mortals and snakes
Once,
Lived together
In
Compromised harmony.
Mortals being
Civilized then,
Snakes needed
No protection
In the fullness
Of time,
Mortals were caught
Unwittingly,
In a tidal wave
Of the so-called
Progress,
Advancement,
And remained tangled
In a web of
The attendant mass
Of ill effects.
Mortals became
Stylishly uncivilized
In consequence.
Snakes
Remaining unchanged,
Discerned the change
Of the mortals,
When venom
Furtively entered
Their fangs.
Snakes felt constrained
To leave
The mortals
In search of civilization.
So they repaired,
In creeping motion
Disconsolately,
Into the jungle.
Kamal Premadasa
|
