Red, green, yellow, mauve
What’s happened these days
to earthworms? Have they
gone multicolour?

There was a time when they

were the colour of soil
Only when they wriggled
Could you make them out.

Now giant sized, out of burrows
they slither and slide.
Heavens! Have I chanced upon

something Jurassic Park-like?

The Multicolour Earthworms [Illustration by Shinod AP]
The Multicolour Earthworms [Illustration by Shinod AP]

Oh what a relief! They are not the
worms I thought they were
But bright new phone cable wires,
awaiting a burial under the soil.

84 words | 0 minutes
Readability: Grade 4 (9-10 year old children)
Based on Flesch–Kincaid readability scores

Filed under: poems
Tags: #earthworms