As I walked along a Paddy field

Saw some white storks goin\’ home- admire I
Whence snowflakes start to float like kites?
Those long red beaks jut out- as if
To sniff out alien eyes that pry
And to warn Sun on nearin\’ nights
But squealin\’ storklets got the whiff
In the nest hunger grow sans rest
True bearer of all babies\’ quest
Soar and soar, O mighty bird!- under
Thy wings- My weak soul bolt like thunder.

Saw a black cobra- shinin\’ and goin\’
About its business sans a fuss
It spit not venom or not hiss
Along the muddy path slitherin\’
Just went- he bother not on us
May be to see his wench to kiss
Ah! He drowned- fell on a spillway
But ne\’er knew he can swim away
Go, O the son of dragon! Take me
Along to netherworld- I dare see.

Saw a red slimy snail- the easy
Unhurried languid stroll to den
A giant leap o\’er time and space
They matter not anymore- sleazy
To furrow and burrow in fen
For long trance- it sank sans a trace
Live in thy little but own world
Affect not- all the frenzies whirled
Trudge, O the master of phelgm! Drill all
Thine obstinacy for the long haul.

Saw the brown fields jauntily wavin\’
To welcome the light evening breeze
Or was it to wave big goodbye?
But some bend down- are they ravin\’
Or writhin\’ supplicants on knees?
The wind sweeps a mock smile so wry
All my way, scatter ripe thin grain
A golden path- I walk gay and fain
Blow, O majestic zephyr! Gift thy
Knave the might of thew to fly sky high.

P.S: This little piece follows iambic tetrameter but with an unusual rhyming scheme aBCaBCDDee where the lowercase letters represent feminine rhymes (stressed on the penultimate syllable or having 9 syllables) and the uppercase representing masculine rhymes (stressed on the ultimate syllable or having 8 syllables).
In each stanza, the author \’sees\’ a thing as he strolls along a ripe paddy field on an early January Spring evening ( yes, you read it right. It\’s spring in January out there after the retreating monsoon sheds copious rains in October and November), somewhere near Tirunelveli. First he sees a flock of white storks (நாரை) flying to their nest, then a black cobra just minding its own business, and then a small red snail which keeps furrowing as if to escape from this bad world, and finally the breeze which \’moves\’ the author and takes him to a whole new world from which he doesn\’t want to come back.
The mood of the author swings wildly as he saunters along. This is to show that as the children of Nature, we are bound by her.
There are lot of cheeky play of words throughout the poem. I don\’t want to point out them as it will spoil the little joys of finding them and savouring them all, one by one. Happy reading!

P.S 2: Meanings and explanation
whence- from where, jut- extend out, quest- a long or arduous search for something, wench- a young woman or prostitute, netherworld- underworld (பாதாள உலகம்), sleazy- sordid, corrupt or immoral, fen- a low and marshy or frequently flooded area of land, trudge- walk slowly and with heavy steps, phelgm- calmness of temperament, whirled- confused movement, thine- your, obstinacy- stubbornness, jaunty- having or expressing a lively, cheerful and self-confident manner, raving- declaiming wildly, writhing- making twisting, squirming movements or contortions of the body, supplicant- who begs earnestly for something he wants, wry- bent to one side/humorously sarcastic or mocking, fain- happily, zephyr- a soft gentle breeze, knave- servant, thew- muscular strength.

When the author looks up from the ground, he sees a flock of flying white storks that look like snowflakes floating in the air. Their red beaks jut out as if to sniff something in the air which the author assumes to be the fast approaching darkness of the night. The storks fly fast to tell this message to the Sun that he is about to be swallowed by the night and better he run away. But the hungry storklets got the wind that their parents are on the way to feed them and this knowledge increase their hunger manyfold. \’True bearer of all babies\’ quest\’ has two meanings. One, of course, the storks go back to quench the hunger of their babies. But it also alludes to the folklore in Europe that storks bring (human) babies to their parents. As the authors looks up to the soaring majestic birds, he feels that his own weak spirits lift up.
In the second stanza, the author talks about a cobra which neither hisses nor spit venom and not even bothers about the presence of the author as it slithers along the muddy field. The author thinks that it might go to meet its lady love and that\’s the reason for its indifference. He had his heart in the mouth when the snake falls into a small canal but is happy to see that it can swim. He requests the cobra, which is considered as the king of the underworld, to take him also there (It means that the author considers underworld or hell to be a better place to live than this fascist infested Earth).
In the third stanza, the author marvels at the languid \’walk\’ of the snail without a bother about the maddening fast paced \’modern\’ world. This he consideres as a \’giant leap\’ (remember the famous words of Neil Armstrong?), which he thinks make Time and Space redundant. The snail keeps burrowing so that it can hibernate (more likely, aestivate given the hot tropical chimes of Tirunelveli). The author wishes that he can also live in such a blissful state where nothing matters and implores the snail to teach him the stubbornness to move forward despite all the hurdles.
As the author walks along, he sees the Paddy fields happily bending to the breeze. He is at a loss to know whether they are welcoming the wind or waving a thankful goodbye to it because it brought cheer from the dreary humidity of the tropical wet paddy fields. So, he thinks that some fields pay homage to the wind by supplicating on their knees. But the mocking wind steals the grains from the Paddy plants and the whole path on which the author is presently walking, is stewn with those golden grains. The author feels very happy to walk in this path as he feels like a real King. He overcomes his negative thoughts and regains his verve as he requests the zephyr to carry him forward to battle the enemies of humanity.

Author – Ravi R. Chokkalingam