In childhood, fairy tales were very popular
Beauty and the Beast, I’m sure all remember
They occupied opposite ends of the spectrum
Couldn’t one have existed without the other?
When I look around at Mother Nature’s wonders
I see many odd pairs happily coexisting together
Objects distinctly different from each other
Yet verily one can’t exist without the other!
In the garden around my cottage, I spot
Beautiful roses protected by prickly thorns
One universally loved, while the other feared
Yet one doesn’t exist without the other!
From my happy school days too, I do recall
My favourite teacher – Mr. James Goodall
Head so brainy, yet in his hand was a cane
Couldn’t one have existed without the other?
Perhaps the Good Lord in the heaven above
Is trying to show us through many an example
That good and evil are two sides of the same coin
Within us too one can’t exist without the other!
Dr. Aparna Bagwe