Sparrows

Sparrow Nest

Where are all the sparrows?
You question, looking at the smog
Turning the morning mist
Into plumes, darker than most shades of grey.
And those rice thieves are no longer
On any horizon, let alone marking,
Their presence inside human homes.
And in this climate of change
Of a slow apocalypse, you find
The tender threads of your heart
Searching for the meaning of nature.
Someday soon, there will inevitably be
The last sparrow, which unlike
The last few dodos would not have been killed
For their foolhardiness, only for
Its pathological desire to coexist,
Hitchhiking on civilization.

Published by Curiosity-driven life (Dilantha Gunawardana)

Dr Dilantha Gunawardana graduated from the University of Melbourne, as a molecular biologist, and moonlights as a poet. He currently serves as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Botany, University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Dilantha lives in a chimeric universe of science and poetry. Dilantha’s poems have been accepted for publication /published in HeartWood Literary Magazine, Canary Literary Magazine, Boston Accent, Forage, Kitaab, Eastlit, American Journal of Poetry, Zingara Poetry Review, The Wagon and Ravens Perch, among others. Dilantha too has two anthologies of poetry, 'Kite Dreams' (2016) and 'Driftwood' (2017), both brought to the readership by Sarasavi Publishers, and is working on his third poetry collection (The Many Constellations of Home). Dilantha’s pet areas of teaching and research, include, Nitrogen Fixation, RNA biology, Phytoremediation, Agricultural Biology, and Bioethics & Biosafety. Dilantha blogs at – https://meandererworld.wordpress.com/ -, where he has nearly 2000 poems. View all posts by Curiosity-driven life (Dilantha Gunawardana)