Flight of Life

Poetry by Priya Rajan

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A Heron chick landed on a fork of a lawn tree
No rivers around, no lake
And groundwater sank beneath those roots.
Yet she manifested. A brown fluff amongst the concrete blocks.
 
She sat still and tilted her head
To the acoustics of the human shrill.
She sieved the wind for vital cues
A sound-note from her mother
perhaps, scent of a fish.
 
She fell off to the ground, onto the lawn
Amidst the shrieking children ruling the turf.
They chased her around and wondered her name.
A strange bird caught up in pigeonhole.
 
Exhausted children retired for the night
Leaving the heron chick barely awake.
She did not move or make a noise, she lay there.
A pond heron chick, on a manicured lawn.
 
The next morning, she was gone.
But she was there in the dark of the night.
Did the prowling cats get her?
Or she caught a frog and took a flight
Like an arrow towards the alpenglow sky.

About the Writer

Priya Rajan lives in Bangalore, India. She worked in the software industry for more than a decade and quit for personal priorities. Currently, among other things, she is striving to be a writer. Her articles and poetry have been published in NatureWriting, Snapdragon, Flock, Orion, Hinterland and Gyroscope Review. She is thankful for the time and attention her work shall receive.