Επιμέλεια: Εύα Πετροπούλου Λιανού
(With apologies to Icarus)
Whenever I met gods,
I always prayed for wings.
Atlast, they granted me wings.
I got them checked from an advanced lab
They were not waxen
I subjected myself too to an eternity test
Which told me I was not Icarus
Nor even remotely connected to him.
So I had wings, and they weren’t waxen
If I flew very high,
There was no fear of their melting,
Yet, I took all precautions
I went to a desert to make sure
Even if the wings decide to melt
I do not fall into the sea
And get lost for this earth
I loved this earth, its plots,
Its buildings,
Gods often called me a realtor
After all I loved the mansions
Made by them
I wanted to plant buildings
Everywhere
So I went on convincing vegetation
It was no use being there without any work.
Some dogs listened to my dialogue
With trees,
I was telling them
Shed every thing that is of no use
The trees had started shedding their leaves
Dogs had given away their long ears and protruding tails
Ants just expressed a death wish
Squirrels came running and looked aghast
Gods found me engrossed in useless activity
They asked me one day,
We had given you wings.
Where are they?
Then I came to know
Even I had wings which were of no use
And decided to shed them there and then
Leaving the gods shocked and repentant.
You wasted our powers,
They accused me
And took the wings away.
They also took away my eyes
You don’t use them Mr Wise.
They took away my body
Why why why I cried
What you didn’t use, will now be fried.
Fried? In Hell? And once again I fell.
This time, from Grace, gods tell.
They hung me upside down
Asked with an unbearable frown
Why I had not used my assets
For the earth’s downtown?
Thereafter I lost my sense
And, then, my existence to a dark expanse.
©®Dr Jernail S Aanand India
