Panda-monium
A Panda lore
Three furry brothers
went atop a tree
One proposed a game
bored by the scenery.
The middle one — reckless
dared everyone to jump
Whoever rolls the farthest
will be the winning champ.
The elder one — wise,
warned of severe injury
The smallest one — wimp,
nodded, getting all jittery.
The middle one, excited
flouted the pleading cries
Gauged the height, squinting
with those dark-circled eyes.
Counting to three, he leaped —
a thud, a bounce, a fart
Away he rolled, keeping an eye
his distance from the start.
He rolled and rolled
to the farthest he could see
but trespassed the enemy lines —
ensnared, unable to flee.
A hullabaloo started in the land
the snare brought to the fore
“Punish the intruder”, shouted
the “no dark-circled” panda dictator.
The sentence was extreme
“Tickle to Death” was planned
Every citizen compelled to partake
with bamboo twigs in hand.
They tickled once, he guffawed
They tickled thrice, he gasped
They called time-out, he calmed
They resumed, he lapsed.
He went into a state of delirium
He remembered playing truant
the Kung Fu classes of Master Sloth
and regretted being so defiant.
He resigned to his fate
Numbed by the incessant tickles
A kick and then a violent jerk —
he woke, sweat forming a trickle.
Rejoiced that it was all a dream
Thanked the elder for the kick in the butt
The elder mocked him for trying to fathom
the height so deep with eyes shut.
And thus, he abandoned his challenge
and vowed never to be reckless again
He resumed his Kung Fu classes
The nightmare made it certain.
© Rumi
