Parakeet

kingfisher dives
for fish
when the tiger is coming the monkeys know
from treetops

oh so many greens
on this ochre mountain
such glorious parakeet
pea-hen sit
camouflaging peacock eggs

jackal husband and jackal wife
walk over rounded stone
mellowed by river

for a few moments
someone weeps loudly in yellowed grassland
interrupting the buzz of thousands of gnats

and then we can hear the setting sun

Ashok Niyogi was born in Calcutta in 1955. He has two published collections of poetry in India—Crossroads and Reflections in the Dark (both from A-4 Publications) and has one published book of poems in the United States—Tentatively (iUniverse). He has been published extensively online and in print in India, the USA, the UK, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, and Holland.