The Swan and the Crows: Poem for Children

Crows: “You are as white as the snow!
O dear swan, where did you go?”

Swan: “I went to heaven high above,
Higher than clouds and rainbow
The world about which people preach
But, that living ones seldom reach!”

Crows: “Is it so? Then let us heed,
What things are there that we need.
Can’t we go? You don’t tell lie
We can also fly so high.”

Swan: “There I saw a holy lake
Full of lotuses, blue and red.
An apple orchard without snake
And one can rest as in a bed.
I ate many fruits and drank honey
And one should pay there no money!
Diamonds glitter in every nook
And elixir flows there in a brook.
Full of fragrance, no bad smell,
And one may think this earth a hell.”

Crows: “Ha! Ha! It is so bad a place
If there are no worms and mice!
Tell us any wonderful tale
Of crab, of fish, of rotten snail
What heaven, if there is no filth!
There we will never be in mirth.
Go! Go! Heaven! You are a fool
We will bathe in this dirty pool!”

[Moral: don’t say good things in bad company. They will never appreciate, but may even ridicule]

Further reading: http://www.wikinut.com/author~unmhoi/John-Kolyav/
http://www.triond.com/users/johnsonpjohn