Perch

"I wrote this piece at a time in my life when I had started to ask questions about my person, I felt out of place, like I did not belong, but then God showed me that ‘the depth of your past is an indication of the zenith of your future’. The story about the bird, it’s real!" de_destined


The beginning of yet another day,
The sun just about rising from the horizon,
The breeze gently caressing the trees,
The only sound the chirping of birds,
Likely dishing out instruction to their babes,
All was cool and all was beautiful,
Especially the crow of the father cock,
Loudly and boldly declaring for the world to hear:
It’s the beginning of yet another day.

It’s also the hour of prayer,
While many still rolled and turned in bed,
Others hoping the cock’s crow were a dream,
But of course many others wide awake,
Knowing the day would be a full one,
Wisely lay all at The Mater’s feet,
Believing it was the wisest action to take.
I had joined the insignificant number of people,
Who believe a prayer-less day means vanity,
I launched out to speak with The Expert,
Relishing in the wonderful beauty of nature,
But while in the middle of prayer,
My eyes fell on and beheld,
A spectacle that looked out of place,
Instinctively I paused to look,
Standing so still and attentive,
My reaction felt so funny to me,
And I simply remembered the fact that,
It’s meant to be the hour of prayer.

The spectacle, how could I forget?
Standing all alone amidst the greenery,
Other trees swinging to and fro,
Birds singing in them in carols,
Was a tree without a single leaf,
With branches all dry and piney,
The kind a food-seller would rejoice over,
Almost the image of many men,
With arms extending all around,
But all destined with only one leg,
It was a spectacle to behold,
Still realizing it’s a time to pray,
Curiosity made me look beyond the façade,
And what I saw made me ruminate,
That spectacle, how could I forget.

It sat and looked all around,
Perch, a better description of the posture,
So still and silent and broody,
So determined a look for a bird,
Perched on the tree that stood alone,
As if their destinies were linked,
More like the rejected and the outcast,
It must have felt all alone in the world,
But the alone-ness was not the attraction,
It was the look of absolute determination,
As if saying, “You’ll all be proven wrong”,
It sat and probably observed the wind,
Almost blending in with the tree,
But I knew it had chosen the right spot,
A place that would bring the greatest surprise,
It must have had the mind of philosophy,
And it must have nurtured a feeling at heart,
‘A surprise entry never fails’,
While I still looked on and beheld,
It sat and looked all around.

All through the day I wondered,
Having laid my anxiety before Him,
The perching bird always coming to mind,
No matter how hard I tried,
The thought kept surfacing again,
Trying to correlate what I saw,
A beautiful scene, yet hard to feel,
Then suddenly it hit me,
At a time I least expected,
I clearly saw me in the bird,
My life in a drama before my eyes,
So many others having the same storyline,
A small smile brought radiance to me,
Knowing the latter part was the best,
Fully aware that whatever it looks like,
Tomorrow still holds the great promises,
Like a little girl nudging her mother,
A quiet thought brought smiles to my face,
Just as I finished praying earlier on,
The bird left the position of perch,
Having considered and carefully observed,
Other birds watched in great amazement,
As the bird arose and flew higher above.