One of the neighbors

of the houses in front of ours

Bought a Kakatua.

One day, while walking in the courtyard,

I saw the bird,

And the cockatoo instantly grabbed my attention.

It was trying to balance in the ring it was sitting

Imprisoned inside the big cage

Which was hanging from their balcony

It was lost in playing with itself.

I loved the idea of keeping oneself engaged

With oneself.

I was doing rounds in the courtyard

There was nobody to give me an accompany

But I found someone to keep watching

My eyes wanted to look above whenever I turned toward their house.

One moment, the Cockatoo was sitting on the ring,

The next moment, it bowed its head, and then, squeezed its body

to pass through the small ring.

“Wonderful!” I exclaimed in joy,

And clapped.

The bird didn’t know that it had an audience afar,

It was busy repeating the game.

But I appreciated its balancing act

As I saw the Kakatua doing the same thing

Every time with the same efficiency.

What a balance it had

While standing on one leg on the ring,

While tactfully entering the ring with its huge body,

And then returning to its previous place

Once again.

It also knew how to balance

Between what to let go

And what not to

For I saw

Although its freedom was bargained

And then sold,

The bird was not too old

To forget what it owned.

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(This post is part of the series ‘Solace in the Mundaneness’ where I try to tell stories of the everyday things that capture a special place in my heart and they make me feel privileged to live a simple and ordinary life with contentment and peace. This post is also part of Blogchatter A to Z.)