as school-boys
we visited as many zoos as possible
standing in front of the fences
boys and girls behaved contrary to the fenced-in inmates
boys and girls cajoling at the animals and soon against each other
their behaviour unschoolyard-like
soon turning into bullies
soon words turned against fellow humans
you could observe the teacher(s)
as if freed from the class-room
gesticulating as never before
in front of some of those fences
but some of us boys
always stood at a very far distance
so that none of those words would reach us
and the punishment meted out to the above bunch
-no, to the whole class-
was always 'wildly' opposed
by us, who took to the distance
and we opposed and opposed
in the name of our very own freedom:
our reality was based individually
never to be experimented with
collectively