I oft shooed thee as bird of barest brain,
No, ye do hide behind some talent rare,
Should a rare hand nurture ye to train,
Thine sense of shades I doubt any may share.
It is thine knack human commands to heed
That makes thee a bird of a choicest breed,
Thou ‘lone, O angel, canst call a Monet
From a Picasso, Peace pigeon, prized pet!
It was when I saw a huge flock of thee
Taking off from the ground at a command,
Swirling soon in a formation to be,
Showing off skills in flight, and to soft-land,
Thence to trap birds of rival fleet—what treat!
I know ye deserve discerning diet—
Of dry fruits and pure Indian ghee— a bit
Rich may it look — a long-corn and millet.
I never knew doves could be trained to tell
A human voice or whistle, and many
A hand gesture to return safe and well
To base, until I did thine talent see.
Thou hast the measure of magnetic field
Of Earth, to have a sense to know at best
Thine place in space with the power ye wield,
And to return spot-on to place of rest.
Those eyes hast more colour cones than us,
That thou canst see three times as many shades
As humans, making ye a bird so precious,
A pigment marked seldom from thine mind fades.
O thou, a perennial guest of my house,
I'd not shoo thee away- now that I know
Thou art not like that pesky pest, the mouse;
Yet hygiene's good habits ye ought to show!
And ye make every corner, every niche
In my house, and thine nesting place, a rage,
Thine maternity home all so hellish,
But, pray, a house is no home of garbage!
It's odd, we call thee a common pigeon;
Such rare credentials can't make thee common.
For nesting home, O thou a homing bird:
What made ye leave trees to like human herd?
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Reflections | 02.01.12 |
Topic: peace, angel, pigeon
As a bird lover myself, I congratulate you on producing such a wonderful piece of poetry watching and thinking of pigeons and doves. 'Thine maternity home all so hellish, But, pray, a house is no home to garbage! ' - These two lines made me smile, and I guess (from his comment) that our fellow poet Edward Kofi Louis liked it as well!
You are absolutely right, Khairul Ahsan, this is one thing that few bird-lovers would appreciate about pigeons. But let us understand, pigeons were tree-dwellers first, and then they adopted rocky edges as their homes. From that they came closet o populations and adopted nooks and corners of houses/buildings, and I guess must have picked up this shabby habit from humans. So, can we blame them. Thanks for your kind observations.
It's odd, we call thee a common pigeon; With such credentials, scarce art thou common. again your mind is lost in a meditation, dove.. pigeon as you call. birds and nature and beauty, , , , , , universality and mystery of nature............ a fine poem. thank u dear poet. Aniruddha. tony
I wonder who would not love God's creations like birds and nature. Thank you Tony Brahmin.
A house is no home to garbage! Thanks for sharing this poem with us.
Sorry, Edward Louis but I never saw this feedback earlier somehow. Thank you so much.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
aniruddha, i find this interesting in that i too was once dismissive of rock doves. then one day i really noticed, really saw how graceful the line was that flowed from the heads and down their backs. i just took a quick peak and learned there are 310 species of dove (that we know of) and that they're likely the most common bird in the world. in my neighborhood there are rock doves, white-winged doves, mourning doves, and eurasian collared doves. -glen
Yes, we often look but fail to see. You seem to know a lot on doves/pigeons. Thanks for the input.