Poetry

Ghenady photo

By

Ampat Koshy

One More Mynah Poem

Looking through the glass window

in the bufiya we go to for tea

which also reflected me, unshaved, careworn

I saw a mynah with one foot lame

outside, hopping around, carefree

Symbol of bad luck, they used to say

the sole, lone mynah; those voices of my childhood

no claws on its ‘game’ leg and only a sharp, tiny, nail-like stump

left for it to lean with on the ground

and hobble on

while its other leg was sound

It pecked at some food that lay on the ground

still active, still of life fond

brown, black and white

with its yellow mask-rimmed eyes

not much of beauty in it found

I could not make out if it was male or female

but was amazed at it holding its ground

against life’s adversities

refusing to be trodden underfoot

by being only a penny or shilling to the pound

I learned from it a lesson in the round

myself with that spirit to surround

to not give up or in

to forage, though small, actively

and unbeaten, for life, to win.

Ampat Koshy

Dr Koshy AV is an Assistant Professor of English literature by profession in the English Department, University of Jazan, presently, in Saudi Arabia, and also a critic, poet, fiction writer and editor of anthologies. His latest book is Scream and other Urbane Legends, a collection of short stories. He hopes to produce work that others will not willingly let die as a writer.