I’ve seen beetles commune with clove pinks
and dragonflies beam on pebbly streams,
wagtails skipping mossy rolling stones,

bee eaters trill and turn in rain,
squirrels scurrying sundered trunks,
kingfishers strung on power lines and

herons in banana trees awaiting
a toad admiring turtles flaring
their knowing nares and glassy eyes,

the cleverest crows in love and faring
starlings rest on crooked woody fingers,
and mantises that do not pray – just eat,

parrots prickling thistle flowers,
sparrows sculpting unripe pears,
bulbuls quote magnolia blooms

in tremulous odes to Persia
and ringneck doves off-snow-white coo
reminiscences of you.

—
Taimur Khan