A Tailorbird

By O.P. Jha

As a tailorbird I pluck long leaves 
rustling with mild breeze
I stitch them with fibers of intimacy
spread in a lovely heart that get unfolded
in the passionate moments of love

I weave and string up the nest
of my love with a low branch
not much above the reach
of my flapping wings
and make soft bed for love
with the straws gathered
from the woods spread around

as a tailorbird I enter my nest
drooping with a pendulous branch
I stay there with my charged body
and soul longing for my sweet heart

after a welcome ‘tuui-tuui’ note
I write fresh love stories
with my caressing lips
inside the cellars and drawers
in my petty pretty nest

here I keep some items
soaked in yearnings of months
for my nocturnal and diurnal courses
with no limitation of land
but with wild freedom that flies high

I stay inside and pray
‘No insolent gust of wind would give
a hard blow to my small swinging nest!’
love doesn’t know which direction
a hard blow comes from

my nest is my love
and I’ve woven it
with the music of my body
and the song of my soul
I want to keep it intact even in
a short- sigh of a cyclone

as a tailorbird I chirp
and call my love from my nest
tuui-tuui…whee-whee

__

O.P. Jha’s poems and fictions appeared in journals like The Indian Literature, Rigorous, Mantis, You Might Need To Hear This, Punt Volat, Zoetic Press, Discretionary Love, In Parentheses, Shot Glass Journal, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, ANTHRA Zine and others. He is the author of an inspiring book Management Guru Lord Krishna. He has a Doctoral degree in Translation Studies. Email: opjha189@yahoo.com, Twitter: @OP Jha17