KINGFISHER ROOSTING
I perch stilled
In the top of the woods
Above waters eddying away
On the fish eye to shoot with the arrow
I am not in inaction,
Nor I’m in a falsifying dream
Eyes closed I rehearse my actions
Straight and simple for
A perfect kill to eat.
The convenience of my perch atop waters
The water’s buoyancy and the sun’s ray
Are of advantage to me
And the waters face upward to me
For my surveillance
On the rough bark
I sit unmoved with
My claws deadlocked
It took the whole of Creation
To shape up my foot,
My each pied feather
Now Creation is held in my foot
For a dive and dip into water
For my catch and kill,
In one lightning sweep.
I fly off, and
Swoop down
With the sun behind me to blind my catch
I kill where I please
In the aquatic realm
I’ve evolved to be a finished killler
There’s little of any sophistry in
My manner: a straight flight to waters
To boobtrap the target fish for my food
With the deadly strike and grip of my long bills.
I deal the allotted death only to those fishes
Destined to die for the sake of me to survive
On a straight path on my wings
I take on my preys, and with
A single jerk I deal death to
Them and send my kills
Down to please my appetite
With the flesh and bones apiece
No logic I resort to, to assert my right.
The sun shines from behind me
Air and water give me buoyancy
The woods above waters are my inspecting perch
If changes come the way I make my kills
And survive, since I began as the kingfisher
I will change accordingly to a perfect finish again
…
[ The poem is a tribute to the poetic vision and style of Ted Hughes in his famous poem HAWK ROOSTING. TED had been the British poet laureate from 1984 until his death in 1998. In London Magazine, January 1971, Ted said that in his poem, Hawk Roosting, “Actually what I had in mind was that in this hawk Nature was thinking. Simply Nature.” Readers may note intermittent tonal and verbal echoes of Ted’s poem, although there is a significant departure from Ted’s idea, particularly in the closing lines of this poem.]
®© Jay Basu 5 November 2024
