Snake Park Poem by Pradip Chattopadhyay

Now he was standing on the border.

He heard his own voice say

this deadly option reconsider

also heard it say

your hunch can betray

so can your sense

pause man before you travel the distance.

No, he wouldn't listen to that voice

having made the choice

not anymore to defer

what deserved the woman that wronged her.

She was giggling and saw no harms
when he picked her up in his arms.

The rock python smelled flesh falling from the sky.

You have to die he whispered you have to die.

The gateman was dozing and no eyes had watched him.

He must now run away from this bad dream!