The Soul Just Went Up

By Nalini Gopalakrishnan

When I was a kid, 
My Granny told me,
“Son nobody dies, the soul just goes up”.
She kept a parrot in a cage.
The wings were clipped.

My teacher spoke of the freedom struggle.
I thought of Meena in the cage.
At dusk, I opened the cage.
Meena flew atop the mango tree
A little halting here and there, like my granny’s limp.
She called it varicose.
Meena could call it
The clipped wings.

She lost her foot and fell down.
The burly cat came along, grabbed her neck.
Meena lay dead on the ground.
I just stared and gulped.
My granny came out,
She said “Kid, how could you do this!!!!”
I told her “The soul just went up”.