Little Man

One murky morning in early seventies,
Little Man, an eight-year old
Scrawny little child,
stole into an abandoned govt estate
with his two fellow thieves
and climbed a coconut tree,
for hunger flooded
his head.

That was his first space visit,
and it was not to spy on Moon
or to bring rice from Saturn,
yet to share with his two brothers
the remaining two young coconuts,
for he heard their bellies growl.
His left hand gripped the tree trunk
and the right twisted the first coconut
or tickled the nut behind,
and the nut smiled, hustled,
leapt down,
and then rolled

and knelt at the feet of a village bandit.
Either to snatch the coconut
or just to hear the child’s cry,
bandit picked the coconut.
Hunger clouded Little Man’s smile
and he said, “keep it, or I’ll fall
and die”.
The man was a bandit, yet he threw
the coconut and limped
down the sloppy land,
letting Little Man
win the game,

yet it was too late.
Either the child let his hand go
or he could not hold the tree trunk anymore,
he slipped down
and hugged the craggy mound.

 

Newton Ranaweera, July 28, 2020
Image source: Pixabay