‘Twas a small rat
Quintessential, yet curious
Charming and cheery,
He easily made new friends:
Friends that pampered, and adored him.
Encouraged by the adulation within a secured home,
The young rat wandered and foraged beyond his boundaries:
Into deep woods,
With many a snake burrows and eagle hills.
Much as he missed his dear home,
He braved into new quarters
Learnt living,
Between anthills and snake burrows;
Between eagle hills and weasel holes.
Maneuvering through branches and barks,
Over organic wastes
Nibbling, burrowing, burrowing, nibbling;
While observing his coterie:
Enthralled by their skills,
The little rat worked harder,
Holding his breath,
Self-criticizing and adapting,
Adapting and self-criticizing
He assumed to be growing.
Yet, perennially fearful of the vastness of the forest
And succumbing to the skills of his cohort:
Trying to emulate them and failing,
As the cohorts built themselves.
He grew perplexed with the incoherence:
Incoherently, independently numerous surviving skills
Of individuals among a multitude in the cohort
Until one night when he was caught in a storm
He stumbled in the new dark
And pondered deeply:
To try and fix the survival puzzle
When he realized,
“I should root myself within;
Let me build on MY strength:
That is where my self-esteem blooms.”
It is a process, yet perpetual:
Feed a little self-esteem, and build on my strength
Build on my strength and feed a little self-esteem.
These days, he does observe his cohort:
More to establish understanding and relationships,
And less to emulate and succumb.
It’s a happy life, of mutual admiration, mutual respect and mutual learning.
