It Is A Good Morning
A Melbourne Morning
Dew has not yet disappeared from the grass. On either side of the garden path, rivulets of dew has travelled from the grass on one side to the grass on the other, in seamless communication. The grass is wet, so is the rich soil beneath it. The Sun has not yet appeared. Traffic noises are faint, yet. It is 6 am and the birds hold sway, for now.
And there are birds on every tree, birds wheeling about on suicidal missions on the grass, looking like they are about to careen into each other. There are ducks and ducklings, accompanied by drakes. There are water hens and raucous sulphur crested white cockatoos, having a screeching match with each other.
Dew dripped from the eucalyptus leaves bordering the path. The air was fragrant with their faint elusive smell, a smell that would dissipate and disappear when the blazing sun shot into the sky.
For now, the world was only waking up.
Walking to the garden, on the footpaths beside sleeping houses, I pass flowering trees whose names I know not. They are full of small green-and-red parrots. They called out warnings and challenges to me as I pass beneath their tree. They threaten that if I were to come by again, they would pluck out my eyes and feed them to the crows, so there! Mindful of the threat, I skirted the trees and them, as I walked to the Woodland Park, near my house.
I thought of Neera Handa Dr, as I walked, remembering her story about the Jacaranda trees:
Here, too, all the jacaranda trees are in bloom, their fragrance so overpowering, I felt I might swoon. There are lanes, avenues and streets which have jacaranda on both sides, and they are edged with a surreal purple fire now.
I can see what appear to be wild geese ‘that fly with the’ Sun ‘on their wings…’
It is the 7th of January, 2023. Down Under, our Spring seems to have sprung.
Life is good. All is well with the world.
ⓒ 2023 Suma Narayan. All Rights Reserved.
