A piece of the sky

A piece of the sky perched on my window:

There had been a nest of bulbuls near the staircase leading to the terrace. Out of the three eggs, two had hatched. When the time had come, the mother and father were training the young ones to fly. One was a quick learner and flew away with the parents on the same day. One wasn't as quick and was left behind. 

For three days, she had been sitting on the window grill watching the world outside through the glass, taking in the sky; that which housed the glorious sun, the dark rain clouds, the radiant moon, and all the brilliant stars. She had been longing to be a tiny speck of color in the vast canvas above. Occasionally, her family would bring her food, or just sit beside her, and try to offer comfort. But, she still had not been able to fly. She had sat there, her longings echoing in her melancholic cries. 

That day, there had been an electricity problem at home. Feeling sleepy, I had come upstairs and had been lying down beneath the open sky, a sea of fluffy clouds, trying to get back to my dreams. I had just begun to nod off, when I felt something brush against my arm.

And there she was, the little one, gliding across the sky with her mother by her side. She had sat for a second on top of the wall and had called out to me in her chirpy tunes. 

I felt as though she had realized that the glass was not the barrier after all, and had finally believed in the strength of her wings. 

Now, as I look at the empty spot on the grill, it feels incomplete without her. But I know that wherever she is, there the sky is finally complete! 

-Pavithra Seshadri

Image courtesy: My phone's camera