A cat mews from one corner

and from another corner the dog barks.

But none of them

neither the East nor the West

dares to move from their corner-

towards the  patch of peace,

lovely and green.

It’s not that they are lame,

they have legs

but they have a crippled heart,

narrow and dark, and

they have an ego

more stubborn than their tail.

Yet, more than one occasions

in the past, the cat had taken

a step forward, towards the patch of peace.

And many a times, in the yesteryears,

 the dog too had lurked, towards the boulevard of peace.

Everything looked good and rosy,

and the doves were dancing and happy

but every time they spoiled the party

by mewing and barking at each other,

when they were within

a stone’s throw from the patch of peace.

Ah! This drama has been going on since ages

but now the time has come

for the cat to bark and the dog to mew

or else one day, there shall neither be a cat nor a dog.

“Why should we change our nature?

Why should a cat surrender to the dog and a dog to the cat?”

These questions they may perhaps ask.

But, O’ fools, we poets, are not telling

a dog to be a cat nor a cat to be a dog.

We are telling both of you

to give peace a chance to sprout.

Let a dog think from the cat’s perspective

and a cat from the dog’s perspective

to compromise a bit for the sake of peace.

For god’s sake,

if a cat doesn’t want to bark

and a dog doesn’t want to mew

it’s alright, we respect their will.

But please, please, cats and dogs

stop mewing and barking for a while,

and let the green patch expand

 its horizon, wide and far.

O’ God! Who shall tell these fools,

it’s better to end quarrels, establish unity and peace

and live a dog’s life mewing than die barking,

or live a cat’s life barking than die mewing

young, very young, many a miles

ahead of their hope.

Living in peace is such a wonderful thing!

Shed your ego, O’ cats and dogs,

O’ what a divinity peace is!

Copyright 2008 Bhuwan Thapaliya

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