Once a horrid creature I saw

A sly creepy spooky look it had!

Two big fireballs were its eyes

With a thump it boldly walked

All alert, with alacrity it could pounce

Asphyxiating an unwary victim

Its long pincer like claws clenched

Giving no chance of escape

Like a python its prey’s bones it could crush

With its gleeful twining embrace!

Gulping its kill and

Too heavy to move

To its hide out it retires

Lying dormant for a while

But beware

Let its docile ways not fool you

For hawk eyed it’s-

Always on the look-out

Of another innocent careless prey

An insatiable hunger it has!

Like a typhoon all life it can destroy

Oh, what a terribly wretched creature it was!

                                                        ~Anuradha S. Bannore

                                                           Vadodadra, India