It is all her grandeur by Dilakshi Ratnayake

 I don’t remember a cobra coming

 into our home ever. 

 May be

 I was too young to remember.

 But

 I do know that

 never it was rare

 those rattle snakes

 coming and going.

 I don’t remember

 father chasing them away, 

neither me nor my brother

 too small was my sister,

 Except amma.

 No shrieks, no fear, no hesitation 

 She was not ladylike at all

 In such cases.

 It was her maternal shield

 always, always, always

 that chased away

 those frivolous rattle snakes from 

our sight.

 May be

 even a cobra would not have dared 

 to challenge her grandeur.