21 seconds

I had it lined up perfectly, the fantail in my sights,
finally settled on a bough, after its endless flights.
A poem taking shape, through the focussed image,
the prey within its beak, at rest after a scrimmage.

Suddenly there was crashing, close behind my back,
I wheeled around instinctively, the sound of a crack.
There she was staring at me, deep in woody shrubs,
crows having driven her in, through stems and stubs.

I never had seen her species, up so close and clear,
the lens quickly focussed, lest she flutter in fear.
Her initial frozen moment, lasted but an instant,
she began stumbling away, intent to be as distant.

Focus then got tricky, crisscrossing woods impeding,
by the time I got clicking, she already was receding.
As she entered thicker bushes, I gave up on the race,
lest I drive her back to the crows, in my eager chase.

Later reviewing these 9 pictures where she was caught,
I checked on the frames the precise time of each shot,
this encounter amazingly was just 21 seconds long,
yet it still gives me a recall when I hear a Koel’s song!

[Featuring: Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopaceus), female]

– Narendra Nayak © 2020