Ten Men

Ten men married ten women
And made ten couples
One of them settled in the town
Nine men in the village always missed him
They remained in the village
We were ten; we are one short of our numbers
The one in the town found tens of men in the town
He did not miss the villagers
One day he returned to the village
The villagers rejoiced in his return
We are ten again.
Townsman said, ‘No, we are more than ten’
‘How?’, villagers asked
The day we married we became twice the ten
And now look at our families
We have multiplied five times in the last ten years
And if we put our resources together
We have the power of one hundred men,
Ten times more than ten
Villagers smiled
‘You were always the clever one’
© Saeeda Younus 2010

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