Camel
After Aesop
Cyril Wong
A camel prays for horns or tusks in order to protect himself. A raven longs to be a swan. The grass shines greener in the neighbour's pasture. A hag smells an empty bottle, imagining the wine it once held. Jupiter looks on from his throne and shakes his head. Yet who is a god to judge when they are all his own creation? The raven mourns his dark reflection, then flies in search of food and self-acceptance. The grass shades to brown on the other side. The hag shatters the bottle against a rock. The camel mourns the sky at clouds rushing by, leaving behind a desert of silence, bearing the weight of his fears in no particular direction.
