The mendicant hears a bird singing. He comes to the grove. <br />The bird is high up on a bamboo branch. <br />The bamboo branch sways in the wind and the bird sings. <br /> <br />The mendicant sits on the ground. <br />He eats some dry bread and drinks some water from the pond. <br />And he sits in the shade listening to the bird in the grove. <br /> <br />‘Precious bird in the grove, ’ says the mendicant. ‘Sing a song for me, if you will.’ <br /> <br />The bird comes down to a branch nearer the ground. The bird takes a bow and chirps and shakes its head sideways as if to clear its throat. <br /> <br />And the bird sings for the mendicant: <br /> <br />simple mendicant <br />who has bread and water <br />who starts his day <br />in basic needs and <br />goes to bed below the stars; <br />you and I live thus <br />in carefree ways <br />and we will meet again <br />in nature’s embrace <br />when our days are over <br /> <br /> <br />The mendicant laughs. And he bows. And he says: <br />‘Thank you for your song, precious bird. I will go now, and sing these lines in the next town, and perhaps earn myself some more bread.’<br /><br />Raj Arumugam<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-bird-sings-to-the-mendicant/
