THE BIRD OF PREY
SHIV
KUMAR BATALVI
Translated
from Punjabi by JASKIRAN GREWAL
Oh
mother! I’ve lost my heart to a bird of prey
Crowned
head and ankleted feet
Tamely
pecking at grain he came towards me.
It
was the brilliance of his beauty that struck me first
Then
there was this thirst for fragrance
Added
to this a rich complexion
doing justice to his handsome ancestry.
I
laid, a woven bed of love
Beneath
a canopy of stars
The
very instant he trod the weave
My
apparel was tainted a muddied hue.
A
numb ache pervades my teen ducts
Yet
a flood of tears encroaches
The
night wears out…….
In
vain, I wonder at this cruel slight.
Come
dawn with tender care
I
perform his ablutions.
Offer
him delicacies favoured by aves
He
declines…….
I
feed him the very flesh of my heart.
Just
one energetic soar
And
he had flown–never to reappear
Oh
Mother! I’ve lost my heart to a bird of prey.