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Author: Maya Khankhoje
Contact: khankhoje@sprint.ca
Profile: Poet, short story writer, essayist, book reviewer. Mexican of Indian and
Belgian origin. Re: "On the Wings of Words - Maya Khankhoje's Page"
at: http://thinkers.net/creative/mayakhankhoje.htm
Balbir
While grownups slumbered
through the midday heat
a child scanned
a shimmering sky
seeking the first
and the last parrot
she had ever had:
Balbir
Mother had warned her
that parrots
were vulnerable
for they sometimes
sickened
and their beaks
turned black
and then they died
taking humans
along with them
on their macabre flight
She had disbelieved
at first
for humans
have no beaks
and parrots are
too beautiful
for death
But Balbir had fallen ill
proving her mother
right
and loveliness
not forever
She had blamed herself
for feeding him
too many peppers
trying to teach him
to speak
in a tongue
other than his own
Release him!
her mother had urged
so she took Balbir
to the jungle
and unfastened his cage
on the threshold
of an infinite sky
so that he could soar
beyond the reaches
of the human eye
He flew away impatiently
eager to meet his destiny
in a transparent space
whose boundaries his wings
would never graze
Balbir flew higher
and higher
unmindful of the tears
of that wounded child
who had once been
his captor
and was now
his friend
Her feet rooted
to the ground
and her arms raised
to the sky
the child tracked
his vanishing light
and strained to receive
his fluttering song
and caressed his feathers
with an impalpable touch
But her heart
seemed to sense
that his body
would drown
in that very lotus pond
where he had never
preened himself
or drank cool water
or bathed with a mate
whose emerald feathers
meshed with his own
She also knew
that he would
no longer
sing or squawk
or speak
in a tongue
other than his own
for he would be
Balbir
no more
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