Identity and Difference
Obsessed with harmony,
I write this allegory:
Once there were two rival kings,
Actually brothers.
Each always (or at least often) thought:
Only my God exists.
They thought not of the implication.
Like king, like citizens!
So, naturally, differences arose
Where there was cause for none—after all.
However, the two kingdoms had
Their strikingly common factors,
As simple mathematics can show:
The Highest Common Factor was Corruption:
As suggested by disproportionate income;
Only the ratio and proportion differed!
Violence was the second HCF:
Only cause of violence differed—from time to time.
Killing was common:
Killing leaders or killing people.
But the equations here are of higher mathematics—
Beyond the reach and range of common readers:
The killer is equal to the killed;
Or the killer is greater than the killed.
In any case, killing was just!
The two kingdoms, however, were divided
By some common factors—
A strange paradox:
They were divided by the same language,
Because the two dialects differed—a vital difference!
Sport they had in common,
But often the two teams violently disputed.
So, disputes often arose
Between the two kings.
Now, an adjacent king, Br’er Wolf,
Offered to mediate—
Like the proverbial monkey in the Panchatantra story:
Now there was a triangle.
Then?
There was no triangle--
Only a big red circle!
— Ram, R. V.
Winner II, Premiere Poetry Contest, sponsored by Silent One, July 27, 2017
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