A long time ago, in the Jivavarta mainland, a man escaped the ravages of an ongoing war and settled with his family deep inside a forest. Although he escaped humans, he could not escape the birds. When he grew his first crop, birds descended on his fields and started eating his crop. Enraged to his limits, he cursed at them, he shooed them away -- but the birds did not listen. They ate his entire crop. He sowed the crop again, but this time he was ready. As soon as a first bird descended, he killed it. It felt nice, he had finally done something. Birds did not stop coming, but he made a habit of killing a bird whenever he saw one eating his crop. After a few years, he killed them even when they were not eating his crop. He killed them merely because he had now become used to killing them. Every time he killed a bird, he buried its body in a corner of his field and put a gravestone alongside. On the gravestone he carved a little picture of him strangling the bird, a symbol of his victor...
Once there was a man. He did everything right. He ate right. He walked right. He talked right. He wore the right clothes. But he wore his shoes wrong. He wore the right shoe on his left foot, and the left shoe on his right foot. People feared he would fall, but he never did. They asked, "Why do you wear your shoes that way?" He never answered. He only smiled. Years passed, and he was no more. People forgot how kindly he spoke. They forgot how honestly he lived. They forgot how helpful he was. But they always remembered that he wore his shoes wrong. —— Reflection: What "wrong shoes" are you wearing that make others uncomfortable simply because they challenge convention? —— Author’s Note — The Origin of the Poem: Originally drafted in 2018, this poem was last edited in a Google Keep note on January 2, 2019. It sat there for seven years, waiting for its ending. Now, it is finally complete. —- The Man Who Wore His Shoes Wrong Collection: The Uncharted Mind Author: Shon ...