The Hanumans

The hanumans, Indian hanumans, long-long and tall, White-haired but black-mouthed, With a long tail Jumping and going, Snatching the things, Give to and if not take the slaps, Chattering to bite, May scratch if teased, Sometimes with the kids Just ogling, The small-small kids, Human child not, wild guys. We are junglees, will not be civilized, Is the thing to be dispensed with, We are a wild tribe, Teach us not your lessons, This the call of the wild, Nature too untamable, As this the history of earth. The hanumans, Indian hanumans, not the African gorillas, White-haired, but blackly-mouthed, Not the gentlemen but the monkeymen, We shall not be reformed, We shall not be civilized, We are tribals, We are wild, This the message of theirs. Perched on the high tree, atop it, Talking not, seeing the birds crowing unmindfully, It keeps moving From one branch to another, one roof of the house to another, Specially the tin-roofs rattling With the high jumps of the great mindless jumpers. To get a glimpse of them, Sitting on the branch of a tree With the tail hanging down And the birds making a noise On seeing the unwanted stranger.