Birds in cages have always saddened me.There is a nasty artifice in their strut. As if they are pretending to enjoy the imprisonment. Its not unlike the damp cages, that we all imprison our minds in ! A draught of chilly air, blows heartlessly into our bird cages, but we preen our woebegone feathers and peck on, at the bird seed tossed at us. Lord Tennyson’s, eagle,”clasps the crag with crooked hands, close to the sun in lonely lands.”The gritty, determined flight of the migratory birds, is a source of wondrous awe for me. A tiny, speck of a creature, flapping its brave wings and traversing thousands of miles! If this is not miraculous, then what is? As I flounder and skid, on life’s slippery pathways, I take heart and strength from the flight of the feathered stranger, who visits the Sukhna Lake, in my city each year, without fail. The courage of these winged visitors, reinstates my faith in a supreme power that charts their routes along this ardous journey. Their GPS is all in their so called ‘bird brain’!
The exotic, flamboyant plumage of the male of the species, in the bird kingdom, is such a show off. The peacock’s courtship dance, in the heavenly Indian monsoons, is such a blindening spectacle, of brilliant shades of green and turquoise, that it could blow away anyone, let alone the ordinary looking pea hen, who watches, enchanted. It’s good to see, the gent make the effort ! There is, though, nothing more soothing or reassuring, than the sound of bird song, as day breaks in a spill of orange, in the horizon. The wren, discussing important matters with the redbreast, in early winters, on a lonely mountaintop, is almost conspiratorial. Whether it is, the white throated kingfisher or the red vented bulbul, struggling in the urban jungles, they never cease to bewitch me, with the gusto, they have for life. The common cattle egret, that takes a ride, on grazing buffaloes, is hermit like, in her focus on the worms in the grass. The sadly dwindling, common sparrow, finds interesting corners in eaves and cantilevers, to painstakingly build a nest for her babies. The dedication and effort with which, she goes to find, each single piece of straw, enraptures me. There is much to be learnt, from these tiny balls of fur. The hoots of owls at midnight, may have ghostly connotations, but their wailing is distinctly, conveying something to the mournful moon !
Salvador Dali, felt that intelligence without ambition is like a bird without wings. Let us follow the illusions of our own souls and soar on high. I try often to rise again and again from my own ashes. I quite like the phoenix. I know that I am no bird, but nets do ensnare me. Let us, try to be like that flock of geese that turns into poems when they take flight into the sky.
International Beat Poet Laureate India 2023 -2024 , Caesar Vallejo award for literary excellence by UHE, Lily Swarn, internationally acclaimed, multilingual poet, novelist, essayist, columnist, gold medalist, university colour holder, radio show host, Peace and Humanity ambassador .
She has over 70 international and national awards including Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi award and her poetry is translated into 21 languages۔
Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi has awarded her recently “The Best Book of the Year Award ( 2023) ” for her book of English Poetry, The Divine Dialect of Flowers۔ Lily Swarn can be reached at sukhish83@gmail.com
