The Farmer Sparrows!

This one takes off from my narrative of June 4^th, “Tempest in a Teapot?” (https://asliveroflife.wordpress.com/2019/06/04/tempest-in-a-teapot/), in which I recounted how a team of house sparrows had fortuitously aided the creation of a mini-forest of foxtail millet plants within the confines of my tulsi planter. In due course these plants flowered and fruited, yielding millet seeds for the sparrows to feast upon (or should I say harvest?). Taking it a step further, a pair of nesting sparrows from within the same team neatly cut up and took away the now-wilting, post-harvest plants – leaves, stem and all – to line their nest! Bravo my little farmers – you reaped what you sowed and then some more!

The Characters: A flutter of house sparrows (Passer domesticus) with nine lead actors – Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota

Act 1, Scene 1: (Alpha, Zeta, Theta and Iota notice the tender sprouting panicles and are determined to guard their crop)
To fore the bounds of the four corners,
we ward off the eyes of evil foreigners,
lest they spy the bounties we shield,
no one enters the limits of our field.
We defend the grain that is our right,
the gang to mount guard day or night,
so come forth ye all let’s stand as one,
the farmers’ life has only just begun.

Act 1, Scene 2: (Zeta, Theta and Iota drive back the pillaging pigeons)
The cooing and flapping tapered off,
a kit of pigeons readying for takeoff,
eyes on our farm for some time now,
raiding our crop we must not allow.
Here they come get ready to attack,
beaks to the front claws to the back,
left flank right flank and cut to chase,
pecked and rattled they fled in a daze!

Act 2, Scene 1: (The nine feast on the fruits of their labour)
Come dear friends let’s raise our wings,
revel in the riches our long vigil brings,
relish the grains that we toiled to grow,
delectable when it’s sweat off our brow!

Act 2, Scene 2: (Delta and Epsilon take away the stalks for their nest)
The crop has yielded an abundance of delight,
we’ve adored and devoured every single bite,
to use we shall put even the stalks that stand,
into our nest shall weave every little strand!

– Narendra Nayak © 2019

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