Thorns and Flowers







In all aspects of life, you’d find thorns and flowers:

Sleazy shacks beside glittering city towers;

Massive talents emerging from slimy slum gutters;

Gilded jails for some starry-eyed gold-diggers.

 

Thorns and flowers among lovely sons and daughters;

Thorns and flowers among great mothers and fathers;

Thorns and flowers in the clock chiming the hours;

Thorns and flowers as birds flap their wings and clean their feathers.

 

The hawk eyes the sparrow in sunshine and showers.

In the red-light zone, you’d find these among the hustlers.

Thorns and flowers among mediocrities and superpowers.

Thorns and flowers from nursery to ivory towers.

 

Presidents, senators, governors and ministers.

Thorns and flowers far and near, novices and masters.

Thorns and flowers among shrine, mosque and church worshippers.

Thorns and flowers in a breeze that turns a gale and hollers

 

At buildings, then everything on its path down it hammers.

Thorns and flowers in a wave, once lovely, but raging shatters

Its barriers, throwing punches like boxers,

Overturning cars, flooding homes and sending down spines shivers.

 

Thorns and flowers in science – big bombs and computers,

Internet, smartphones and stalking virulent hackers.

‘Thorns and flowers’ is the song life sings in all quarters:

On land, up in the sky and deep in oceans and rivers.


(This poem is from a collection with the same title and it is available here as ebook or paperback.)

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