Dr Roopali’s poignant ballad about a parrot and a crow – exclusively for Different Truths.
There lived In another age a green parrot in an iron cage. It shut out the leafy trees and let in a piece of the sky so blue this story is true. The clouds beckoned to the restless sprite come, come to us. Fly, fly with us across the dewy mountain to the red berry fountain. Captivity drove the the green-plumed parrot to distraction ruby red blood clung to the rusted iron. Impatient compassion flung open the door to freedom. a streak of flapping green flew towards the sky a flurry of purple passion the leaves rocked with joy, the earth laughed with flowers. the clouds danced without a care and the ants stopped to stare. In a brooding branch, where speckled ladybirds sang in a row, sat the ink-dark cunning crow. Down it flashed from the green tree and dashed the parrot’s flight to be free. A drilled head strangled wings bloodied eyes dreaming the lie of a topaz sky! Wise crow. How did you know?
Picture design by Anumita Roy
Dr. Roopali Sircar Gaur is a poet, travel writer, and social justice activist. A former professor of English Literature at Delhi University, and a creative writing professor at IGNOU, she is a widely published academic and creative writer. Her book Twice Colonised: Women in African Literature, is a seminal text on women’s socio-political empowerment. In 2020-21, she co-edited two poetry anthologies – In All the Spaces: Diverse Voices in Global Women’s Poetry, and Earth Fire Water Wind.
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