As I Flew Over Kiev

 March arrived and I started my journey back home in a jolly mood

After spending a comfortable winter in the lovely place of Hirakud

With a wish again to return next winter, here or perhaps some other place

India is a beautiful country, after all, can’t find anywhere such solace

My country is beautiful too, but the winters harsh

A bird that I am, can’t dare to bear the weather’s wrath

 

But as I started my travel, I sensed things were not the same as they were

Where there was peace before, Oh! How tensed people were

The students worried about jobs in future, the govt about what steps to take

I saw some mothers crying for their children, a fear of separation,

I saw fathers concerned about the safety of their sons and daughters

But what was wrong, what was happening, it was beyond my comprehension

 

I crossed India into Pakistan and there was the same old power game, same instability

I went then into Central Asia, and it was all great, with lovely scenes just like before

The view of snow-capped mountains from above just mesmerized me

After soaring over plains, valleys, and mountains I was nearing home, just a country left

And I arrived in those skies of our neighbour but felt the biggest shock

This was not the country I had seen before; it was all devastated

 

I saw Donetsk, I saw Luhansk, I saw Mariupol

I saw Odessa, I saw Kharkiv, and I saw Sumy

But I found grimed and bombed-out apartments,

I found people in distress huddled in subway stations

I found shattered glasses from restaurants and nightclubs

I found deserted parks and abandoned towns

 

As I proceeded, I saw people leaving their homes and running for their lives

I also saw their military preparing for a fight, a fight which they knew wasn’t easy

I saw students from India and elsewhere stuck there with anxiety

Some were rescued back to their home, and some still battling the uncertainty

I understood this was the reason for their parents’ fear and cry

But what can one do here, you can’t even ask “Why?”

 

Then at last as I flew over Kiev, I saw things were too gloomy

I found their leader hiding and the officials wary

A gorgeous city filled with vibrance, filled with exuberance

All that everyone was worried now was its sustenance

The sounds of bombs and missiles were deafening me, I was already in trauma

Should I move on, or should I go back somewhere else, it was my dilemma

 

I held my courage and somehow escaped that land

I returned ultimately to my place, my country, my Russia

Am I too supposed to take sides in this war of humans?

Because we never fight for land, we just struggle to live a calm life

We go everywhere, we have no borders, and we are all free

Be it India, Iran, Turkey or Azerbaijan, we fly, we stay and make merry

I don’t know who is at fault, is it Russia or the others, I can’t figure out

All that I know is that killing innocents is wrong, but I can’t shout

How long will these humans survive if they keep killing each other?

When they don’t kill themselves, they kill our environment

They poison our air, poison our rivers, we all die, and they enjoy

I am just a minor creature, can’t fight with them

I will do my duty what all birds do and pass away

Hoping that my future generations get a better place to stay

They shouldn’t see what I see and feel every day.