BY NIKUNJ AGNIHOTRI
The morning was cold like ice
Feelings had almost frozen,
But the little empty stomach couldn’t behold
the hunger pangs had been hitting the mountain walls.
Thus began the hunt for the day
A large hungry vulture skidded in the airstrip of chances.
This was also the valley of so-called peace.
The sun began to rise,
and hope was emerging from darkness.
As a flock of pigeons roared in the early skies.
The vulture began his chase for survival.
The pigeons had begun their chase for survival.
Flapping their wings in fear
They swirled, full of action.
With a sudden surge of adrenaline,
their small heart was beating much faster than ever
The fear of death lurked around
Anyone one of them was about to perish.
The flock split, faster the better
Some white feathers fell on the ground.
Some grey feathers hit the branches swaying,
dry and straight looking Willow trees,
Lined up customarily, on the road of oblivion.
What was the hurry about, the noise the commotion?
Enemy was around
Death to rebound.
The Morning was cold
Feelings had also frozen
But the little empty stomach couldn’t behold
A giant beak crushed one of them
A giant leap ended the game of suspicion.
Some now rested on the walls of the
Shredded slated roofs
Others gasped for breath
Some looked for her missing companion
Others understood the fatal, alarming call.
The outcry was over
Valley returned to peace
Everything seemed so normal now
Harmony besieged but temporarily stalled.
The Lidder River flew incessantly, acrimoniously.
Another chase for survival had begun.
Hunger pangs had hit the walls of the mountain.
The Ibis Bills looked for its hunt
A rainbow-coloured small fish surfaced.
Flowed unknowingly in the uncharted terrains.
A curved red beak swirled not very deep into the waters
And the story was over.
The outcry was never heard.
Valley returned to peace
Everything seemed so normal now
Harmony besieged but temporarily stalled.
The morning was cold like ice
Feelings had almost frozen,
But the little empty stomach couldn’t behold
the hunger pangs had been hitting the mountain walls.
A weathered man with slow pace
Walked towards a deodar tree
A million years old.
Another chase for survival had begun.
An axe fell on the trunk
Remorse was missing,
After a while
A heap had gathered
Of the tree mighty and tall,
The outcry was never heard.
Valley returned to peace
Everything seemed so normal now
Harmony besieged but temporarily stalled.
So profoundly stark , yet so sensitive. The underlying pathos makes you think about the futility of human conflicts. Peace has been so elusive for all of us. Any talk of peace is so comforting. Human emotions have been portrayed so well.
What a vivid and evocative imagery of game of survival across all genres of beings, and also the one, which awakens us to essence of existence and endurance in the matrix of life, from day to day, each passing day as our lives chug along ….
It also annotates the predictably in formulaically unpredictable world, as chaotic fluidity, the patterns and also chaotic patterns amazingly co-exist to adorn our lives in myriad ways ….
Wonderful poem… Profound words with deep meaning…
Such a beautiful portrayal of nature vs man..hunger and survival..
Loved the poem! wonderfully Expressed the essence of life struggles!
Very nice poem