When Squirrels Earned Their Stripes - I

No man's too small to hoist a helping hand, Nor any a deed too small if well-meant, Nor a task too tough for a noble end, Mind can if means can't make a mighty dent. A journey of a daunting task off shore Begins with but a single step forward, ‘Drop by drop filleth lakes’ is no vain lore, An ounce of action… oft have we this heard. Many a learned man knows this truth well, But rather than help he spins hyper hypes. Intention matters more, how a squirrel Strove to earn mythical laurels and stripes, So goes a tiny squirrel's tallest lore, Silent did she work building a barrage— An episode from an epic of yore, So sang sage Valmiki of ancient age. A folktale, an aside from Ramayana: Rama's spouse abducted was to an isle— Confined to a far off spot by Ravana, That came camouflaged in a monk's fair guile. When lured and mislead by a golden deer, That too was the demon's bewitching guile, In stealth when cried out, ‘O Lakshman, my dear', And destiny unfolded in a while. In Rama's voice the wily demon cried, And Sita beseeched Lakshman, forcing him To render help; what followed, a bad dream, For, Ravan waited hiding in monk's hide. The search began thence in woods and deep vales, Hilly terrains, meadows and leas and dales, And they came searching to where ends the land, An ocean spread forth, looking like no friend. Hanuman, Rama's key aid, a legend, To whom no task too big was, such was he, Then volunteered to leap across the land To luring Lanka, a land across sea. And returned soon with hopeful but sad tale: Captive Sita’s safe in Ravan's red hands, Who, in no mood peace parleys to avail, Oh had to be dealt with on Lankan sands. ________________________________________ Originally Ramayana was written in Sanskrit by Valmiki, a sage who was a fierce bandit in his early life. Epic | 06.04.13 | Continued in Part II