Wings and Wisdom

A tale of a flight and life
published: (updated: )
by Harshvardhan J. Pandit
poem story

With open wings, I flew across the sky,
With dreams in my heart, the goal nigh;
I soared across the blue expanse ahead,
While the night behind me lay dark and dead;

I rode the winds across a thousand miles,
Amongst the surly rains and snow in exile;
At last I came upon a chasm of pure blue,
The water so clear I could see the sky through;

I landed at the banks of that great lake,
Whereupon came unto me a slithering snake;
“Where do you come from?” he asked of me,
And my silence was proof of the absentee;

The snake hissed and lunged toward,
But I simply continued to ignore;
And when he came far too close to me,
I flapped my wings and escaped free;

“Let me be at peace”, I said from above,
Watching a hunter in the guise of a dove;
“Come hitherto at once” commanded the snake,
“I only wish to get what is mine to take”;

“My life is mine, and so are my dreams”,
I said as the serpent continued its screams;
“Curse be upon you, wretched bird!”,
“You will repent, you mark my word!”;

“Your threats”, I said, “are hollow”,
“For I am in the sky, where you cannot follow.”;
At this the snake turned its tale,
As I soared away into the gale;
Upon the sky I flew with open wings,
Leaving fate to do its own things.