The horse was bound restrained
Beside a lawnful of green grass;
The hungry man was given food,
But all was synthetic, alas!
Strange it was for the green blades didn’t stir,
It stood picture perfect, motionless;
While the moss and the lichen shone dry.
And his nose twitched at the scent of paint and paper.
Freed when at last, it stood beside a road-
Smoking baskets were a blur before the eyes;
Not one came up the saddle, at which he cried-
Hell! The last time I roamed this place
There were smaller cats and mice.

The hungry man with the parched throat
Was licking his lips in thirst,
But the river had now narrowed, water gone black-
It now ran beside the road; somewhere it was at first.
Withered leaves flourished at treetops,
The withered nature cried,
With the man atop the horse
They left the world untried.

Far away the willow whispered, the sparrows chirped its way,
The spring bubbled, the falls cascaded gay,
The virgin nature untouched in its greener sheen
Welcomed the jolly twosome
Where the grass is not painted green.
-1\12\97,Calcutta-63