The Human Life Poem by Asit Kumar Sanyal

God was giving life to the mammals
First called the human, gave forty years
Human objected,
Said, I like to live many more years
God said, take forty first
And stand beside me
The human obeyed the order.

God called the donkey
Gave forty years
It said, I want twenty only
I don't want to carry load for long years
God gave it twenty
And balance twenty to the human
The donkey went away

God called the dog
Gave him forty
It said, I want twenty only
I don't want to live more as a slave
God agreed and gave twenty.
He gave balance twenty to the human
The dog ran away.

God then called the owl
Gave it forty
It took only twenty
And requested god to give the balance
To the human
God gave twenty to human, the owl's share
The owl flew away

The human got forty, his own share
And three donations of twenty years each
From donkey, dog and owl
So the human lives first forty years with proud
Forty to sixty as donkey
Sixty to eighty as a dog
And eighty to hundred years as owl.