I found it so much fun

that it came to pay us a visit

and we all got out to look at it

and it went

into my neighbours’ courtyards

crawling in and out

and they tried to chase it away

and then it slinked down

the street

and I liked it so much

the way it crawled

it was so cute

and it was funny

how Manikandan

hid inside a room

after trying to poke it

with a stick

and it was the first time

I was seeing

a monitor lizard

in Kumily

and in the golden

afternoon light

I was happy.