Up I Grew With Nature Wild

written by: PANCHOLI NANDLAL KANJIBHAI
Category: Ode

As a child, up I grew with nature wild
On a heath pure and undefiled I saw, near my house, a mongoose
Red Mouth Running to and fro from north to south
And at a Fallow Retreat not far I met a shy retiring jaguar
Often I accost at nearby Four Square A ravenous grizzly bear
And behold a timid tortoise going somewhere
Hearing my footsteps he draws his head inside
Leaving me stunned and petrified
And I came across once A jackal that from me kept a safe distance
scanning me with cunning eyes from top to toe
And considering me a perennial foe
And had a glimse of a hedge- hog, in winter, through fog
Who at slightest rustle, hid behind a stile
Reducing itself to a thorn -pile
Grey rabbits run amok seeing me in vicinity
Thinking that I chase them with impunity
Field squirrels,however,are unpurturbed
With my presence they are least concerned