A Homing Bird Poem by Seema joglekar

First to receive, the first benediction of the gilded ray,
First to wake to bring the word-‘a new day is on its way’
Golden red curtains pulled, to rub the night out of its sway,
Only then, dawn deigns to anoint my silks with its mists gay:
A gathering of idyllic thoughts stoked in star-fires, dispersing stay,
Parting, christens the land in a sacrament of dew of fresh pearls,
Some run down grass blades, others drip, spent, down leaf curls,
In life brief, wrapped in a bubble their splendors flit away,
Urge my songs to acquire their grace in the warmth of the day.

Dawn breaks its heart in tunes, inspiring me to lend my voice,
To my melodies flavored by splendors of distant shores, buds rejoice,
To the accompaniment of wind chimes of waking leaves, the airs throng,
Acquiring their sweetness in the chill of morn, my songs prolong,
Blossoms release the trapped drunken bee to join my chorus,
To taste the freedom of first light, and dance to my songs reckless,
I spread a shiver of joy even in the idle dust of the night
Till the sun’s orb sits plump on the edge of the earth.

I sing of the desire of the sky, in the voice of the stars,
Of distant springs and of solitude of rocks sparse,
Of lament of the clouds and silence of the trees
On nectar dripping boughs, rapture in my voice flits on breeze.

Of my journey over thousands of miles flying wing to wing,
Leaving traces in nooks and corners of gullies and springs,
They know not in whose spell I offer my fixed heart
To echo between the sky and earth, till my heart is light,
‘Cause I’m a homing bird with a twig in my beak, for a start,
Carrying dreams in my wings and a song for someone in my heart.


Seema.joglekar
19 October-2013