[NR]
There was upon the past,
A Forest so very vast -
That even the light couldn't pierce it at will,
And, so the wind within was cold and still.
Somewhere in these dark woods,
A man lived - lived where he could,
In a house - a place one of its kind,
A place - no other soul could find.
With him lived his little boy,
Who knew of a different kind of joy,
For he had no friends he could with play,
And for 5 long autumns,
And more to come -
Here he'd stay.
This is a story of that little boy,
Birds and trees and insects - he had as toys,
He woke up with a gentle kiss,
Slept with the setting hiss,
City life - he never knew of, he didn't miss,
Yes, for this kid - Ignorance was a bliss.
One day, his father called out to him,
"I'm off to somewhere you haven't yet seen"
Puzzled was our hero - for he couldn't say,
Where his dad was setting off to - so early that day.
Off went his father - early before dawn,
Over the river bend he walked, then he was gone,
And our hero began his daily chores,
The time was perhaps a quarter after four.
Around the noon when he was listening to the birds sing,
His father came home, holding a bright-shiny-'thing'
And his father said, "I had to walk pretty far,"
And sitting down, he continued "to find this chocolate bar"
When his dad unwrapped it and kept in his palm,
The little kid found it hard to keep calm,
Into his mouth he pushed it - not a second to waste.
Savored the flavor - the most delicious taste.
Such sweet and pleasant was the treat,
He scrapped what had remained between his teeth,
And, licked off the wrapper - twisted it and tore,
And, when that was done, asked if he could have some more.
Smiling, his father handed him another bar,
And started a tale of a land not very far,
He told him to go to the end of the forest with him,
And walk into a place they called 'the land of dreams'.
So, off he went with his father and with the bar,
And a couple of hours later they heard noises from far,
Upon reaching there, in the so called 'land of dreams',
Our hero was baffled to see kids there just like him.
The boy stayed there for 30 years now - full of joy,
In the land of dreams - and jobs - and games and ploys,
He was a man - with age and more wisdom now -
And for some reasons he felt the woods were better somehow,
So, one day - he went - off right after the sunrise,
Off to where he belonged, bade the city life a plain goodbye.
In the house between the trees and now covered with dust,
Our hero now, grown up and again - forever lost,
But, at peace from the dreamland not very far,
At peace, because he had with him a few chocolate bars,
Each day he would wake and savor the taste,
One bar a day, he was in no haste.
The people heard of him - a man living amid anthills,
He was the man who had nothing but could smile still.
