Entanglement

By Barkha Subba

Every year, the European Robin 
Journeys south from the chill of the North to the warmth of Spain. 
This miracle of flight, of instinct and grace, 
Begins with a flicker of quantum entanglement— 
Hidden deep within the robin’s eye. 
It awakens the compass buried in her brain, 
Guiding her across the skies, unerring. 
So to be born without an eye— 
Is not just a loss, but tragedy, 
For one whose fate is written in the sky.

The Universe in a masochistic mood,
Conspired with Earth and birthed a robin blind.
Born in pain and raised with shame
Her bitterness soon earned her name.
She sang in curses, not in tune, 
Poisoned the abandoned trough 
- beneath the moon. 
She kicked her kin and made them choke, 
She pecked a hole in the heart of her suitor
Stole twigs from the nest of her tutor
Her soul steeped deep in villainy, 
A gallery of sins for all to see.

Yet the most severe punishments
Were the ones she inflicted on herself
For failing to See,
For failing to Serve,
For failing to Feel,
For failing to Be.

She lay awake at night, alone, 
Dreaming of skies she'd never known.
Why did the pull not come for her too? 
Was she broken, cursed by fate— 
Or simply late? 
Some nights she spread her wings and counted feathers, 
One by one, beneath the stars. 
Thinking that it is where the fault might lie.
And on the seventh night of counting— 
She began to pull them out – one by one
Perhaps if she was less, the compass might respond. 
Perhaps if she hurt enough… she'd feel the bond. 
But clear thought is rare in an obscure mind. 
Tell me—what were you hoping to find? 

One sunny day, she drank from the abandoned trough.
As the poison slowly seeped into her cells
She walked a little further, 
And lay down on her rugged quills.

As she lay dying, among the aching, windblown sunflowers
Her life unfolded before her in a blink of an eye,
And at that moment, between the two realms she finally realized
Her journey was not about where to fly,
But to remember the stars she held inside, 
She saw at last, beneath all sky, 
The cosmos burning in her eye.