By Shraddha Sankhe:
Green landscapes of the garden
Hath seen many a children play.
There, blossomed the cherry tree
And the lovely spring augmented each day.
Little children with their playful hearts
Hath brought in the lovely flowers.
Which no kingdom could fathom
For only the innocent heart hath such powers.
The innocuous souls hath brought beauty on the platter
Till the Giant entered one day to drive them away.
To him the children feared, could but not flatter.
A selfish Giant was he, who had his day.
With the departure of children
Sadly arrived the harsh winter.
Dressed up the garden in pallid white so
That the trees went off to sleep without a hinter.
When the snowy cloak refused to uplift it’s stay tarry…
The garden was priceless to him, his only home…
The Giant began to ponder, but most, he began to worry,
Could not believe, with children went spring’s last gnome.
Having woken up from his selfish sleep
To open the gates, the Giant waved to call in the kids.
Running they came in and each offered him their love deep.
The children chose and climbed on trees for themselves, the garden amidst.
But one kid, an aura around him, could not so climb
Sympathetic, the Giant helped him up his tree
Grateful, the lil child kissed him on the cheek,
The Giant smiled, sighed, felt very set free.
A century passed but the spring never left
The garden, kept open by the Giant
Who hath grown old and much undefiant.
Glory was back again, never to see him bereft.
A sunny morning the Giant noticed again, the little boy,
The same little kid with aura he loved!
He rushed towards him to greet him, ahoy!
But the little boy, simply smiled, happy and unnerved.
“You helped me find glory here, oh lil boy, wise”,
Said the Giant with a tear in his eyes,
The little boy took his hand and said,
“Come, oh dear Giant, I tell you no lies…
I shall take you to my world, a real paradise!”.
The Giant only obliged and followed his way…
The lil children noticed the Giant’s happy head,
And The Giant’s body too, so contently dead…
Under the same tree, at morning of the next day!
Acknowledgement: This poetry is my adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant, the classic short story.