Nature Will Not Decide

A bird has entered my quarter
she’s confused
It was her space back in time
Looking for her nest.
Now trashed, wasted twigs
Precious nature does nothing
Just grows more shrubs, more trees

The bird’s mate has flown in too
pressing at the patio door, asking for justice
now knocking hard
certain it was his space
not too long ago
I see some twigs left in the balcony;
on the left side window of the study

A resistance has been registered though

I hear stunning noises each day
of many birds;
they are protesting,
not confused;
they are thrashing against the air conditioner
The glass in the kitchen window broke today

I know who has done it,
I am persisting
Thinking how to return what’s theirs

Savita Singh is a political theorist and a feminist poet from Delhi. She writes in Hindi and English, and has three collections to her name, Apne Jaisa Jeevan (2001, Rajkamal Prakashan), Neend Thi Aur Raat Thi (2005, Rajkamal Prakashan), Swapna Samay (2013, Rajkamal Prakashan). She has a collection of fifty poems, Nayi Sadi Ke liye Pachas Kavitayen (2012, Vani Prakashan). Her work has been translated into French, a collection of assorted poems, Je Suis La Maison Des Etoiles (Dastaan, 2008). She co-edited an anthology in the world women genre, Seven Leaves, One Autumn (2011, Rajkamal Prakashan). Her poetry has been translated also into German, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and Catalonian, among others. She has a collection of poems translated into Odia, Jeur rasta mora nijara (2013, Timepass Publication). Savita Singh was awarded the Hindi Academy Award (2017), Raza Foundation Award (2006), Mahadevi Varma Award (2017) and Eunice de Souza Award for poetry 9Languages) (2020). Her poems have appeared in national and international journals, widely. She works in the area of gender studies and has written on Feminist theories of state, economy and literature. She is a professor in the School of Gender and Development Studies, at the Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi.