The elephants went to Thrissoor Pooram24
The horses to Thirunavaya Mamamkam25
Tinkling the bells and meandering
through the countryside
The bulls went to Ochira Vela26.

The camels became prophets
The donkeys, people’s representatives
The wolves, scholars
The peacocks, postal stamps
And the earthworms,
Ancient alphabets

The dogs that went to pay their meals back
with gratitude
The cats that knew the taste of hot water
upon seeing cold water
The housewife cows
The foxes that got woken up unknowingly
The rabbits that went to the competitive exams
The lions that went to conquer their own reflections
The snakes that got trapped in philosophical puzzles
The parrots of Thunchanparambu27
The Edappally28 koels
The Vyloppilly29 crows
The Ho Chi Minh geckos
Guevera ants
Gandhi goats
None returned.

Making sure that no one was around
The tortoise
Slowly stretched out
Its hands legs and head
And sighed:
The same sky the same earth!

And off he went on a stroll
On the vast marshes of our present.