Royal stinking beggar

Royal stinking   beggar

By

P.R.Ramachander

(Yet another   great story quoted by Hamsabai  Santhana Krishnan   in face book. I have  taken the idea   and dressed it in different cloths. My acknowledgements   are due to her.)

A beggar  who was dressed  in tattered cloths,

Happened to go near  the great palace  of a king,

There  a big notice    was pasted on the kings door,

Tomorrow   you can    take part in free  feast here,

Provided  you come dressed  like  a  king.

The beggar wanted  to join the feast   and  went to the temple ,

And prayed  God , “In all  my life  I have   never eaten a feast ,

And  so God   give me   royal cloths   so that I  can   go to the feast,”

God said  ,” So be it son  , I would  give you  divine royal cloths”

God  gave   a great set of   cloths and told   the beggar,

“These  are divine  cloths .They would never get dirty,

Never get   torn   and you need never change  them.

And so you  can throw  the tatters  and wear this dress,”

The beggar    got dressed  in his   new   divine  cloths,

But he had   very serious  doubts  about what God  told and so,

He wore the new cloths , bundled his  old stinking tatters,

And carried   them with him  , as he had  no home to store them.

He went to the royal feast  but was  not able ,

Properly partake in   the feast  as  he had to take   care of his tatters,

And from then on he moved   every where   with the bundle,

Of his tattered   stinking   cloth  ,  wearing always his divine  cloths.

Soon  he realized   what the God  said was true  as the divine,

Those  royal cloths   never  got dirty and never got torn,

And over time people  who saw   him  with  bundle  of stinking cloths ,

Started   calling him  “The royal   stinking   beggar.”

One day   the   beggar  also died and even God,

Who came to take his soul , felt the stench of  his tatters,

And told his soul     with great sorrow , “Had I not told you ,

To throw it away  your tatters as I had given you  divine cloths”

Many  of  us are  like  “The   royal stinking   beggars”,

As we carry with us a bundle of stinking tatters like,

Anger  , jealousy  ,  egio, worry   and suspicion wherever go,

Instead  of  enjoying the divine  life that  God  has  gave us.

Even in palaces  , there  are many   such royal stinking beggars,

And in many slums  , there    are  people   who live like kings,

The bundle  of  bad qualities  makes a king   live like a beggar ,

And   the divine good qualities make even a beggar   live like  a king.