Pink Legs
I want to be a bird
she says
Which one?
I don’t know
A small one
With a strong voice
One that likes to sing on summer afternoons
Long nostalgic notes
No, a single long nostalgic note, like
sweeeeeeeeeeee
That ends in a question
sweeeeeeeeeeee?
A question that hasn’t had an answer yet
Hard to spot
Probably a soft shade of brown if you eventually
discover it in the underbrush
Supposed to bring you luck if you see it
And yes,
with tiny pink legs.
Salil Chaturvedi writes short fiction and poetry. His books include In the Sanctuary of a Poem and Love and Longing In The Anthropocene. He lives in Goa.