Ashrafi Poem by Ananta Madhavan

Ashrafi the tigress
So beautifully bored
Suffered her cubs to tug at her teats
And clouted the rolling one.

The rolling one he loved to roll
On the wet-grained cement floor.
He rolled along to the edge of the pool
And flopped into the water.

O strange new liquid element
In the strange new solid world!
The rolling one went splashing
Down the breathless pool.

Ashrafi the tigress
Watching with half an eye
Suffered her cub to roll on
Out of her beautiful boredom.