Yes – we read the world wrong, <br />and say that it deceives us, <br />said Tagore… <br /> <br />just imagine, if the snake said, <br />you can’t see me… no, I’m just <br />a stick of rotting wood, <br />a length of old rope thrown away, <br />mouldering in the undergrowth… <br /> <br />or the rope said, I’m reborn! <br />I’m now a snake, I’ve risen in intelligence <br />and consciousness – watch out, all those <br />who treated me so harshly as a rope... <br /> <br />or the shell said, how beautiful I am! <br />I’m mirrored all like silver; <br />once I was a humble shell, <br />content to be myself; now - <br />how precious now I am! <br /> <br />Or the silver coin said, <br />I’ll hide here in the sand <br />and look like mother-of-pearl, nacreous, <br />and wait to give myself <br />to some delighted beggar… <br />how virtuous I am; and how <br />rewarded I shall be! <br /> <br />no, Nature, prakriti, has never learned <br />from Man, how to deceive… <br /> <br />ah, but mankind… how we deceive <br />our mother, Nature… we promised her <br />we would look after her in her old age… <br />but all we did was steal her wealth, <br />cast her into a filthy wilderness, <br />pretend to others that <br />she never was of our family <br />but an untouchable who works for us… <br /> <br />oh Rabindranath, what would you think <br />of the behaviour of your grand-children… <br />oh Rabindranath, you never guessed <br />how we’ve deceived our world…<br /><br />Michael Shepherd<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/we-read-the-world-wrong-worse-than-that/
