GIRL WITH CARROT AND STICK ©
I don’t fear the smiling clown
Saúl Balagura
with his mouth in eternal grimace
and his brow wrinkled in a peak.
“You should fear the leopard
purchased high upon a tree”,
said the wise man to me.
But why should I if there are not trees?
“You should fear the mighty tiger
stealthily hidden in tall grass”;
but I replied to that knowing man:
“there is no grass where I stand”.
The man of wisdom said I should fear
the mighty storm with its thunder and wind,
but I smiled and pointed to the yonder blue.
Then, the wisest of men looked at me
and pointed at a girl–¬the one holding
a carrot and a stick¬–and said:
“Do you fear her?”
But why fear a girl? I was about to say,
when a terrifying shudder crawled
inside my chest as I saw
that if the stick was good to tickle,
the carrot could be used to kill.