Chameleon Lens

It was post noon

in lunch recess

that he came, with chameleon lens.

‘It costs a bit, but sure makes you calm,

n lot wiser,' boasted he .

‘Fills you more than books,

Empties more than prayers,'

said he, but unmoved stood they, and    dull.

' A rugged little thing', said a woman

as he unwrapped, 'shouldnt cost much.'

'Behold it changing colour

with every news, thought 

inserted  right in front,’

explained he.

‘Now you have a Muslim lens, now a Brahmin

Next moment a Dalit, next a Christian,

last of all, a street dweller lens.’

‘What happens of the news

passin' thru all five?’

asked an obvious leader.

He speaks for them

from his memory begins

and theirs.

‘Most come out dead, sir, it's good,

they c'd leave  children, even, dead;

rest come throbbing , new life, new music

forever echoing in your blood.'

‘And of the beholder?,’ asked a man

In voice choked n timid.

'Quite he becomes, quiter than  gods,

quiter  than even silence;

or in  rare instances, set out,

to put things straight.'

None was taken, and in the corridor

only whispers remained :

‘What use a man gains all knowledge

But loses  his entertainment!’