Excerpt from the Million March Poem

The night has been long,
The wound has been deep,
The pit has been dark,
And the walls have been steep.

Under a dead blue sky on a distant beach,
I was dragged by my braids just beyond your reach.
Your hands were tied, your mouth was bound,
You couldn't even call out my name.
You were helpless and so was I,
But unfortunately throughout history
You've worn a badge of shame.

...

This morning I look through your anguish
Right down to your soul.
I know that with each other we can make ourselves whole.
I look through the posture and past your disguise,
And see your love for family in your big brown eyes.


I say, the night has been long,
The wound has been deep,
The pit has been dark
And the walls have been steep.


- Maya Angelou

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

The free bird leaps
on the back of the win
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and is tune is heard
on the distant hillfor the caged bird
sings of freedom

The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.

- Maya Angelou

My discovery! Rare New Bird!!!!!

Housekeeping Idhar Aao!!!!!!!

Will try and get a clearer picture ... but this is the Coppersmith cleaning its nest ... the birds feed the young from outside first and then go in and emerge with (what is presumably)the trash.

:-) The Coppersmith Baby is Here!!!!!!

What's your name?

I don’t have a name to call you.
Just nonsense words I make up.
Am hoping one day soon
It’s a language you will want to take up.

The words are easy,
Their meaning not deep.
They describe the most mundane,
everyday things.
Like what happens
When you look at me,
Or when my name you call,
The funny way you cradle me
After every fall.
Your name is nice.
But the things I feel …
Well, it just does not sum them all.

I wonder why they called you that.
Did they think hard enough?
I want to ask your old man and woman
Couldn’t they have made something nicer up?

Like when I turn you into a sweet,
A funny bird-call …
Sometime an ice cream flavour
At other times ‘Takashimaya’, the mall.

Your name I feel should be
A thousand special things.
It should have
The throb of our heartbeats,
The sound of our laughter,
The warmth of our blanket,
The sunset turning softer.

I hope you are not upset
When I tell you …
That the name they gave
Is the one I will remember ...
When it's not love that coats my tongue,
only anger.

Oriental Magpie Robin / Dayal

The Oriental Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis) are distinctive black and white birds with a long tail that is held upright as they forage on the ground or perch conspicuously.

Distributed in many parts of tropical South and Southeast Asia, they are common birds in urban gardens as well as forests. They are particularly well known for their songs and were once popular as cagebirds. It is mostly seen close to the ground, hopping along branches or foraging in leaf-litter on the ground with cocked tail.

Males sing loudly from the top of trees or other perch during the breeding season. Females spend more effort on feeding the young than males. Males are quite aggressive in the breeding season and will defend their territory and respond to the singing of intruders and even their reflections. Males spend more time on nest defense. Studies of the bird song show dialects with neighbours varying in their songs. The calls of many other species may be imitated as part of their song. This may indicate that birds disperse and are not philopatric. They appear to use elements of the calls of other birds in their own songs. Females may sing briefly in the presence of male. Apart from their song, they use a range of calls including territorial calls, emergence and roosting calls, threat calls, submissive calls, begging calls and distress calls. The typical mobbing calls is a harsh hissing krshhh.

The Indian name of dhyal or dhayal has led to many confusions. The food of Magpie Robins is mainly insects and other invertebrates. They are known to occasionally take geckos,leeches, centipedes and even fish.

They are often active late at dusk. They sometimes bathe in rainwater collected on the leaves of a tree.