Has the last line
on the last page of the book
already been written?
After a long, tiring journey
sage Narada for a brief while
sat down under a tree, and soon
he saw a bird, lovely among the loveliest,
and a picture of perfect joy at noon
jumping up and down.
But why? Wondered the seer,
‘why did the emissary of death
look at this bird and me?’
Realising the god of death has arrived
to take the bird’s life away,
Narada took pity and wished
for the little bird to save the day!
By the magic of divine power
the sage took the bird far away
over lofty mountain ranges
and across seven seas
to hide in a safe cave far from animals,
far from humans and gods…
but lo! There was waiting a deadly snake
to grab the lovely innocent tiny thing.
An hour after, the god of death reappeared
and said, ‘Thank you, Oh Sage!
You made my job so easy.’
‘How is it, Oh ambassador of death?
I just tried to save the bird from your wrath.’
‘By your divine power you did just the opposite,
or how else the snake would have traveled across the seas
or the little bird above the high hills?’
‘You mean my goodwill and compassion,
helped your scheme and turned out to be mere poison!
How strange, years of my devotion can’t measure
the range of your creation…
Has the last line
on the last page of the book
already been written?’
