The Final Flight of the Feathers

Quickly Alma opened the window

A little rain bird flew in and perched itself on the palm of the widow

“What message have you got for me, my bird

through the thunderstorm you have flown to my place

I’ll always take care of you little bird, I give you my word

Just let me know if my son’s alive under grace….!!”

The bird fluttered its white wings till a Golden Feather fell

She held it with her dampening heart and for a while she went pale

Impetuously her eyes, scurried through the words inscribed

Reading which, the life in her revived

True tears of joy streamed down her cheeks, she ardently proclaimed, “He’s Alive!!”

And As I watched her down from here, I was exulted………………………….

She dozed off into her chair, after the bout of forlorn days

She now atleast knew that both she and her son were kissed by the Golden sun rays

As the morning blossomed with the fragrance of sunlight

The rain bird chirped incessantly like a child till she arrived

Alma fed the bird with grains and water

She pampered the bird as if it were her own daughter

She wanted to reap the overgrown past and grow her future

But how could she do it…after all she was a mother…!!!

As I watched her down from here, I missed her warmth, and I shuddered…………………..

Years went by, with her each day, spent on the wings of the bird

Alma recited lullabies to it at nights, she went on living like this unperturbed

And then one day the news of the war stumbled upon her doorway

“The War is Over..!!”, she chirped like a bird..just like the rain bird

She was to meet her son, the twinkle of her eyes

She sewed the future events of his life, for him she had to find a lovely bride

The innocuous bird panicked caged in the incongruous sight

The now fledged bird couldn’t grasp the meaning of Alma’s behaviour

As I watched her down from here , I too feared…………………………!!!

One day it thundered and the tumescent clouds outbursted, as if failed to feign the pain,

Amidst the angst, the bird was caught yet again…!!

Alma this time awaited her daughter, she sat near the window praying

Till the bird flew in , and this time another feather, but a White One, fell out of its vest,

And Alma intuitively picked it up in a haste

It read, “I love you, my mother, and I miss you more than ever

But I want to make you aware, of the fact that my scars have now become fade

The rain outside your window has wet me, but don’t worry, I won’t catch cold

and I can see the sun winning over the sky, and forming the rainbow, it looks just  beautiful from here

but let me confess a lie, that I can no more wear

I had to lie, as you and your daughter were alone and needed to be taken care of ,

When you had met it at first, when the golden feather it had doffed

I had sent it, to you, for you, my Mother..

I was avowed that you would love it the way you would love your daughter

You’ve waited for me for a long time and now that the war is over

Now’s the  time for you to confront the inevitable truth….

the truth of the feathers…………………”

As I watched my mother down from the heaven, I missed her rebukes more than anything else in that world…

She wept helplessly deluged in her grief,

Which I had anticipated earlier and so to save her, I had sent the bird, the little nymph..

Who roosted on my mother’s thin shoulders

The bird chirruped a tune, which it had learnt while crossing the heaven’s borders

As I watched her, down from here, I too hymned the song…

That night I tried to sleep, but grief had thorned my pillow

I then heard a familiar lullaby, soothing me, gliding high from underneath the sky,  from under a willow

I got up and saw the mother’s beautiful face cupped on her palm, looking out of the window

She didn’t drag the grief anymore, she had learnt to bid farewell to the yore

She was singing the lullaby, for me, like always she had in my childhood

She knew, that she alone had the power to heal my scars

And so, As my mother watched me, up from her house, her eyes shone

I was freed from the heaven, freed from the insatiable heart borne

I then finally winged my Golden Feathers, to Fly Higher… to diffuse into the White Dawn…….