Hummingbird on Highway

Hummingbird on the Highway
It was the day before yesterday
the trees were yellow and green,full of wood
red wet and dry
so ready to be put on a pyre
and then the king rose and enchanted
told stories of conquest and glory
of saplings turning to magical banyan
It was only yesterday or day before,no one could tell.

Then the clouds moved,burst into seething despair
The trees mauled and thrown into acres
Birds chirping and dying
Dying birds killing,chirping aimlessly and then dying again
The king rose again and told untold stories of distant conquests
Of jungles that had no wood and no water
where the majestic king provided the estranged and troubled hope,wood and water
The birds close home dying and killing still thrilled and enchanted by the tales of omniscient king

Days and hours past
the air bled thin,the trees struggled to light the pyre
the birds died and kept dying
their glories noted in long handbooks numbers big and small
Lives and corpses long and short
strolled and floated by the majestic highway and the pious stream.
Pyres and woods for all their glory had now run their course or so the king claimed.

~Prashant Kumar Singh