Quarrels and Squabbles

Mango trees bear mangoes, blackberry trees bear fruit,
Why are you up in the branches? Come down by your ear, you brute!

Whatever I say, you just grunt and grumble, explaining this and that,
And then you say, "But I'm still small!"...
Stop all that nonsense—you've become one crafty old brat!

How much mischief will you make? Now you must cease,
Others may not know, but I know—you're just an old tease!

I'll file a case against you, invoke a hundred forty-four laws,
But first I'll shave your head bald once more, without pause!

How lovingly I call you, call you my little elephant,
My dear, you try to outsmart me,
Whatever I may say,
You cleverly dodge and slip away saying,
"Alright, alright, alright..."!

Whatever you may think of yourself,
However much people say... "Oh, how beautiful, how beautiful!"
I know exactly what you are—
Such a rascal, and a pure monkey at heart!

However much you wear your shirt, kurta, or vest,
Remember this: you look like a chimpanzee of colossal zest!

The way you deceive and tell me lies,
What do you think—that I understand nothing at all?
You're a venomous snake, a mule through and through,
Oh sorry, no no—you're a scorpion, that's true!

Getting too big for your britches? Too free and wild these days?
Drop all that right now,
Or I'll set your tail on fire
And start a Ramayana epic, you Hanuman gone astray!