A huge big banyan tree
Stood tall aside from that main road
As a symbol of heritage for the locality
A blessed shelter for homeless
And tired Samaritans
A favourite leisure place for local gamers
It s also the home for a young sparrow family
That waited to see their kid birds
Breaking out from those eggs
Their first screams gave the joy to parent birds
As they started their life together
They had hopes about a prosperous future
As their home is in the middle of a town
They had to fly a bit far to find food
The kids are not yet ready to fly
As their wings are just starting to evolve
Along with feathers
Parents used to fly away with the belief
That their home is safe from all enemies
They used to bring back food for their hungry kids
On that day
They left their nest as usual to find food
After saying goodbyes to their chirpy kids
They never thought they had unknown enemies
Who was planning to bring down their home
As the day progressed
Some men climbed that tree
And started Cutting down every single branch
The little birds got scared
As their nest started shaking
They started screaming
Calling their parents to come back
They didn’t know what to do
They can’t fly
They just hoped that their parents would come soon
But they ran out of luck
As their nest fell down along with a branch
Over the pile of branches and leaves
Though their nest survived the fall somehow
They felt the pain
They kept screaming
But nobody cared to look
As more leaves fell over them
They were buried under a pile of leaves
Barely can they breathe
Holding on to their hopes
It’s a heartbreaking sight
That welcomed the parent sparrows
Their nest is nowhere to see
And that big tree is standing no more
It is lying on the ground
As hundreds of pieces
More of bare skeletons now
Shocked at the sight
They started searching for their beloved kids
Flying all around screaming out loud
The kids could hear their voice
But by then their faint voice got even fainter
And hardly it rose up through the pile of leaves
They are so close to their parents
But out of sight unluckily
As the sun started setting
Someone found the little sparrows
While clearing those leaves and branches
He took that nest and kept it on safer ground
Hoping that parent birds might come and find them
Even as those parent birds kept searching desperately
For their beloved little kids
Curious onlookers took snaps of beleaguered little birds
This is the cost of the inhumane rush for development
Image from Unsplash. Thanks
1 comment:
Truly, this broke my heart. And the point of the poem, about the relentless rush to tear down nature and build up man-made stuff, is right on. Thank you.
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