you see—

after a night of road-swallowing

jackfruit-tree-felling rain

you see—     the damp

in which a lone little chicken waits

wobbly-legged faint-breathed dim-eyed

the size of your fist

(your heart is the size of your fist)

far from its mother from siblings

cooing & flapping its wings like its mother

cooing & cleaning its beak like its mother

imitating mother won't make you mother-big

young chick

                             you will die

it will rain again                         & again

we all know you will die

but we won't kill you

we all know you're alive

because nothing has killed you yet

~ ajay

15/5/2021