Login
|
Join PoetrySoup
Home
Submit Poems
Login
Sign Up
Member Home
My Poems
My Quotes
My Profile & Settings
My Inboxes
My Outboxes
Soup Mail
Contest Results/Status
Contests
Poems
Poets
Famous Poems
Famous Poets
Dictionary
Types of Poems
Quotes
Short Stories
Articles
Forum
Blogs
Poem of the Day
New Poems
Resources
Syllable Counter
Anthology
Grammar Check
Greeting Card Maker
Classifieds
Member Area
Member Home
My Profile and Settings
My Poems
My Quotes
My Short Stories
My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder
Soup Social
Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us
Member Poems
Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Random
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread
Member Poets
Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest
Famous Poems
Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100
Famous Poets
Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War
Poetry Resources
Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetics
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter
Email Poem
Your IP Address: 18.116.60.15
Your Email Address:
Required
Email Address Not Valid.
To Email Address:
Email Address Not Valid.
Required
Subject
Required
Personal Note:
Poem Title:
Poem
You are my pest-friend, As you may not know, And I deem it my pleasure and privilege To write this panegyric of you. Mostly chocolate brown in complexion; And very rarely, if ever, you produce a freakish white. In your worldwide family, I don’t think incest is a taboo. I am no zoologist, neither are you; but pray tell me: How do you, in your global community, tell a ‘he’ from a ‘she’?! Your species is indeed ubiquitous: You can be found in the North, East, West and South. But it is indeed a pity that you are never there in the NEWS. When I was in Africa, I happened to live with your distant cousins, Very small in size, but very large in number— With the result that the nuisance value Was much the same! You make hardly any distinction Between fresh and rotten food, Kitchen and commode, bedroom and bathroom, And the newest skyscraper and the oldest mansion. You can also be found on a moving train, on a speeding bus, Or a flying plane or on board a cruising ship. No ID proof, no tickets, no Visa! You can scare any human, male or female, young or old. You take, of course, a special delight In frightening women and children: Some of them scream And go hysterical at the sight of you or just faint! Our late-lamented Abdul Kalam, Was mortally scared of you; Once, when he was in office, You made him, if you remember, Rush out of his suite, ill-clad, Forgetting his position and protocol! He was not at all afraid Of any missiles, though! You scare us all most when you flutter your wings Or when you take people unawares, Showing up in unexpected and unwanted places And at ungodly hours! To give the devil its due, Children often start learning Their zoology at your expense. You are etherized or dissected in their laboratory You are a martyr, in that sense, To the cause of education— Like your good friend, Frog. Now and then you happen to help me, too, An ESL teacher, to get a feel for the language: Once, for instance, I was looking up the dictionary For the meaning of ‘obnoxious.’ I couldn’t quite understand the meaning given; But just then, as a godsend, you appeared; And now I understood what the word meant! Similarly, you readily help me, in the English classroom, To illustrate the meanings of words—like ‘hysteria,’ ‘phobia,’ ‘Scare,’ ‘dare,’ ‘disgusting,’ etc. Such a help are you to us, teachers. And perhaps you don’t know that I have, in fact, half a mind to recommend you For some prestigious Teacher Award in India. (For, here in India, you are an Indian by birth or domicile!) If you have survived against odds, You should only thank Darwin, Who is always your support And source of inspiration. For you, paradoxically, Life is long and art is short. You may, for all I know, outlive my verse: So long as the universe exists, Will you continue to exist!
CAPTCHA Preview
Type the characters you see in the picture
Required