The sparrow which could not fly.

The sparrow   which could  not fly. 

By

P.R.Ramachander

(The idea of this  poem was got by me   from a facebook post of  Sri Rajagopal Srinivasan  , who has quoted the tamil   article on   it from somewhere. My grateful  thanks to Him.)

1.Once there was a sparrow with a peculiar hobby,

Like all those   who collects  various  things in this world,

It tied a bag behind it   and started making a collection,

Of the peculiar emotions    of the human kind.

2.If it  happened to see  quarrel  in one place ,

It used   to collection of  emotion of anger  in to its bag,,

If it happens to see  a person burning  with jealousy,

That sparrow    used   to  jump with great joy ,

And would add   jealousy  in to its bag.

3.Just like this   it started  collection of  various  negative  emotions,

Indeed , it could  collect    several   types  of anger from various fights,

Several   peculiar emotions  of jealousy   which differed from one   another,

And it also collected  emotions due to  various intense   desires.

4.The sparrow was  overjoyed  thinking  that its bag,

Of collections  is going to overflow, but one day.

It found   it very difficult to    fly in the sky ,

And its light feathers  looked very heavy to it.

5.Its friend a dog   enquired   the sparrow  , as to what happened,

And the sparrow    with  great   replied that  it could not fly,

And that  it felt all its    strength  has  completely disappeared,

And also told   that it was not able to find out  the reason for it.

6.Then the dog asked    about the bag  that the sparrow   carried,

And then the  sparrow   replied that , it was  filled   with a collection,

Of  various  emotions  and when the  dog  wanted   to know more ,

The Sparrow with happiness and no enthusiasm replied that they were negative emotions.

7.It Further told   that  wherever  it travelled  in the world  of humans,

It found emotions of Sorrow   anger    and avarice  ,

In very many different forms  and it has made ,

Its own bag  full with these  negative emotions,

8.Then the dog told  its friend  that  it was  the heavy weight ,

Of its depressing  negative  emotions   in its collection bag ,

That  was   making   it unable    to fly   or raise  up,

And advised  it   to throw out  the things  in its bag one by one.

9.Though the sparrow told   that  its bag was   very light  ,

When compelled   by its friend  , the dog who was wise,

It threw  one   emotion out     from its own bag  ,

And  immediately   it was able to fly swiftly in the sky.

10.Then that sparrow  chose  one more  type of jealousy,

From its own back   and threw  it out  far away,

And it  realized more   strength   and slowly  the sparrow ,

 Threw away   all negative emotions      from its bag and it touched the sky,.

11.Then it told its friend   the dog after   some more time has passed,

That  it  had stopped   collecting negative    emotions,

Which were  light to look  at but in realty  very heavy,

And it was  now able to fly high   and was able to touch the sky.

12.Oh human beings on this earth  ,learn from this little story  ,

That  your negative emotions   would   weigh you down in  life ,

And would never  allow  you   to achieve    any thing  that you want,

Just like   the bag full of  useless   dirt carried on head by you.

13.Had not   the   great  Tamil poet  Thiruvalluvar  told you long time back,

That leaving out desire, jealous, bad words and anger  is Dharma,

Had not   the great angry   pantheon    of saints  of yore,

Lost all  their blessings , just by getting angry once.