Bhola The Donkey

By Sahil Qureshi

In a far, distant village, there lived a donkey,

He was bound in slavery, the fetter without a key,

Inflicted on him by his master was the whip of cruelty,

Yet the donkey showed him nothing but loyalty,

Of the miserable servant, Bhola was the name,

Doomed to the blind judgement by race, always knowing infame.

Forced to carry quintals of weight, with the reward of hate,

Beaten by a hard stick, if he were a jiffy late, such was his fate.

Having to eat dry fodder and striving ever harder,

Yet he never grumbled, fearing the stick of his master.

But beneath his woe there was hidden,

Dim as a moonless night, a hope of freedom.

But as the years passed, the hope became yearning,

The desire of freedom like an inferno was burning.

He wanted to eat the grass fresh and green,

And to bath in waterfalls to render himself clean,

To survive in the forest by himself independently,

To run from leopards and tigers for your life,

Was better than bitter slavery, where forbidden was resistance and strife,

He wanted to bray clear and loud, without hearing snide remarks,

And to run with grace like a horse instead of being slow as a corpse.

After many years of sorrow came true his hope,

when one night his master forgot to tie him with a rope,

joy overcame him as he ran, his face shining like the sun bright,

leaving behind every memory of his plight,

today he found himself luckier,

than his master’s pet dog who had his favour,

whom he had watched and envied,

whom from his own hands his master used to feed,

the animal his master seemed to heed,

to Bhola now that dog seemed,

deserving of sympathy and in need.

Oh! the joy Bhola felt,

He ran and crossed the farms of wheat,

And between his stride he suddenly met,

An embodiment of beauty and merriment he had never felt,

A river! Water was flowing in a line,

With sounds of splashing so melodious to be a song divine.

Bhola leaped over the river crossing it in one bound,

And finally his destination was found,

He had arrived at the heaven he desired,

A forest with beauty as such that watching it he never tired.

And so his goal was fulfilled,

Upon the lively trees he gazed and upon the fresh grass he grazed.

Then finally he brayed loud and clear,

Without any fear for everyone to hear.

By Sahil Qureshi