White Swans

At dusk the king came to know

With joy he began to glow

He was in love with the white swan

And six were to arrive the following dawn

Of soldiers he had dispatched a team

To bring them from a faraway stream

As the swans were about to come

He wanted to give them a special welcome

In the royal garden a pond had been dug

And the final path was marked with the royal rug

But the king was not happy with all the décor

He wanted to do something more

It was already night

But the guests were so bright

And the king was so fond

So, with milk he decided to fill the pond

“But My Lord, How would we get so much amount

Of milk there is no readymade fount

In a few hours the swans would arrive

It seems impossible—howsoever we may strive”

“By all the people let milk be brought

We will ask everyone to bring just a small pot

For the whole country it is a moment of pride

So everybody would abide”

The duty was not so large

And everybody merrily agreed to discharge

The whole night

The masses cheerfully poured in the honour of swans bright

The excitement was so deep

The whole night the king could not sleep

And in the wee hours

The king stood out with flowers

At the first light

When the king was full of delight

And when the swans came near

White as milk they started to appear

But when towards the pond the king did walk

He was in for a big shock

Milk was nowhere to be seen

The pond was filled just with water clean

In the dead of night

In the absence of light

Water instead of milk, everyone had brought

Thinking that in the dark they will not be caught

Everyone thought “All others will perform their duty

And my water will not affect the pond’s beauty”

Maybe to the neighbour or to the brother

Why duty always belongs to the other

In the light we make promises huge

Then in darkness we hide and take refuge

But our duty if we miss

Then how can we attain to collective bliss