The Tale Of A Kite And A Sparrow Poem by M D Dinesh Nair
The Tale Of A Kite And A Sparrow
Note:
I dedicate this poem to those who believe in fate or fatalism as a branch of the mysterious doctrine of faith in the unknown.This poem is not penned down for promoting superstition of any kind. I heard this story told by a Hindu sanyasin who was elaborating upon fate and destiny before a crowd of oldies. Somehow, I liked the element of helplessness often that we experience in our life when things happen for they have to happen in this world...
Long, long before
You and I were born, dear friends,
There were two birds, nay two friends
A Kite and a Sparrow
A pair of contradictions they both were indeed
A bird of prey and a bird of snowy innocence -one could say.
They both lived on the branch of a banyan tree.
And they were like two brothers
Many a winged friends envied their bond of love
A few wondered, 'How can this be possible ever? '
The Kite was very protective of his friend
And the Sparrow found pleasure in that company..
An evening the two birds were chatting and playing
Sitting on a branch lower with green leaves oval
And their mirth knew no bounds.
Then there came a short and dark man
Who looked at the Sparrow and said,
' Why are you sitting here now? Impossible it is'
He laughed like a mad hunter and spoke further
'You can`t be here by now, impossible it is hey, little Sparrow! '
No sooner did the Kite hear him
Than he said to the little bird like this,
'My friend, he seems to be a hunter on a mission cruel
And he wants to kill you perhaps, I think
So I shall save you from him now'.
The Sparrow queried now to his friend with mighty looks,
'How can you save me from a hunter on mission? '
The Kite said like with a smile as large as a Pelican's
'I shall take you to the tallest tree
In this wild forest where none can harm you, dear friend '.
And he flew with the Sparrow on his wings mighty
To reach the tallest tree.
Top on its highest branch the Kite made the sparrow sit
And with his beak then he combed the feathers
Of the little winged friend now doomed to a new fear
And then said like this,
'Safe you are here, be here friend
And I shall come after a little time back to you',
But let me now go and ask that dark and short man
Why he has spoken such words unkind about you'
And then the Kite flew off unto where he was standing
The dark and the short ‘hunter'.
Yes, indeed he was still standing there
Looking up unto the banyan tree as he stood before.
On the ground down the Kite landed
To stand and stare into his face and ask
That million dollar question-
' Who are you dark and short man?
Why did you speak those words so cruel
To my friend the Sparrow my little friend? '
Sure indeed he asked thus…
With a mischief in his eyes now glowing
The dark and the short man said,
'You have every right to ask so
And I have every reason to give you my reply'.
You know not who I am, I am the Yama -the god of death
And in my books it`s written in large letters that
Your friend the sparrow can`t be on this banyan tree now
As he must by now be on the branch
Of the tallest tree in this forest for certain
And he must surely be by now
Swallowed by a python living on that tree huge'
-And that was why I was wondering and wondering
Why he was sitting with you on this tree,
Hey bird of prey, could you catch my point? '
No sooner did a dark layer of filmy coating fall on his eyes
Than did the Kite take off to the tallest tree far off
And he saw there with his eyes sharp but now a little blind!
There, alas! he did see indeed now
A large python swallowing the little Sparrow!
As the weak squeal of the little bird was coming to an end
The large jungle began to wear a silence eerie.
The dark short man was still laughing from somewhere
At a pitch that shivered the whole jungle
And the kite now doomed to a fear strange
Shed his tears warm and large for once
Now lost in the wilderness of the jungle larger.
A friend was gone for ever
Unto the world of eternity
That man thinks he alone may enter
Where are your Pythons dear friends?
Where is that dark and short man you know?
Dinesh, this is quite unlike your usual writes......! To a certain extent we are to believe that our lives are predestined and there is a force called Fate. However strong may be one's line of defence, when the time comes, the inevitable happens and we have to surrender finally. I feel the little sparrow in your story however is lucky to have got an abiding friend and protector in the kite! Enjoyed this interesting tale!
Beautiful poem, Such honest friends are less in todays life. Sparrow is lucky to have such a honest friend. The Yama character is quiet interesting, the way you have portrayed....We cannot tell a superstition one. Many years back I had seen black and white movie in Marathi, in which an old woman closes all the doors and windows once the night begins. she feels that Yama (a huge black man with harsh voice) will come only at darkness of night, in form of death. To be frank we have read character of Yama like this.. Like you said, death is predestined. Beautiful story you have made into a lovely poem. Loved reading it.. Thank you Sir for the valuable comment for my poem, with no bang. I will try to write short poems...Smiles. Thanks a lot.
Whatever has to happen will happen no matter what you do. But try you must. Beautiful poem. Thank you.
So sad, life can be so cruel and the Kite who tried his best to save his friend the Sparrow, only ended up bringing him into a place of extreme danger. The poor Kite had the terrible reality of seeing his friend been eaten and hear the horrible laugh of that dark short man. As in life reality does bite us hard when we least expect it! ! Beautiful write!
Thank you all for your comments whether you have treated the poem as a tale or as a write on 'mysterious fate' of human interpretations. I am fond of the Kite who represents any good human being who can instill a hope at times of helplessness. The disastrous impact of the help rendered by the Kite has nothing to do with the way the world may judge it.
A tale so nicely transformed into a brave and timeless poem of kite and sparrow so divinely keen to each other is really great.........I loved it.........Dineshji
Quite a story Dinesh, very philosophical with a message therein. We are all victims of fate, we cannot change that of which we are unaware.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/24/2024 5:04:00 PM # 1.0.0.1119
A marvelous mandate of our mortality, Well done my friend. Thanks for sharing.