First Time Poem by Prabhakar Subramaniam

It is not
Like the first time
Every time,
Though I want it
To be like the first time
Every time I watch the moon
Rise through the foliage
Like hope in the darkness,
The green parrots
Change into blue plumage
In the evening sun - -
As if all colour was an illusion - -
Before they vanish into the trees;
Every time I hear the kuyil sing
Like it is dying
I think of the first time
When I thought
It was a bird's way of crying