Amazing Hours of the Dawn

The bell

In the balcony to my room tinkled,

As a tiny sparrow flew past

Shattering the stillness

Of dawn,

Rising from the corners

Of the distant horizon!

I wake up

As early as never before

To this,

And a buzzing bee

Steals into my balcony,

Flitting from flower to flower,

Buzzing and humming

A song of its own

An early morning prayer maybe!

At once,

I get out of my bed,

And take to the terrace upstairs,

O wow! It looks so new

And all so fresh!

An unseen dawn cracks into place.

The sun comes up in the eastern skies,

While cloud-flakes of the night disperse

And a crispy air, fragrance-filled

(Coming, as if from the wilderness)

Blows carefree and unstressed.

I also observe the white foam flowing away

Revealing a fine, blue morning

That shines against all the young colours of this soil

As a white bird or two

Criss-crosses the whole of the remote sky

Placid and aloof!

Down below, around me

A flock of pigeons and doves

White and black,

Grey and blue

Dance with their mates

As they coo!

Delighted I am in the company of Mother Nature,

Not in the mountains as Ruskin Bond

But in the plains!

And it is still as wonderful!

Wonderful, why, yes I wonder.

If such calm hours

Do come into play

Somewhere, sometime, accidentally

In the hustle-bustle of a day!

And now,

Slowly the dawn sinks and

As daylight makes its way,

I hear the bell in my room shaking.

The same sparrow

Sits over it now!

Nihit Anshu
Class XII-F (humanities)
Gyan Niketan