(1) This is a tale of a very brave bird
So far the best tale I have heard
He believed in himself, and he dared
Overcame barriers and brilliantly faired
Name’s Jonathan Livingstone Seagull
Illustrious life very far from dull
(2) His mind was set on perfection
He drew his strength from his conviction
Wings were given only for flight
Which he knew was his birthright
If only his brethren like him believed
From mundane existence they’d be relieved
(3) He practiced hard day and night
For scraps of food he did not fight
Silently he mulled as his wings beat
“I must eat to fly not fly to eat”
He ate very little and still content
Never swerved from his intent
(4) Failures almost led him to resign
Perhaps success fate did not design
A bird of flight was the eagle
And wasn’t he just an ordinary seagull?
Suddenly it hit upon him a new insight
He had the formula for a perfect flight
(5) Wasting no time that day in petty talk
His practice he pursued like a hawk
He flew up that day to eight thousand feet
Preparing himself for that breakthrough fete
Folding his wings he dived from this height
Jonathan, at last, perfected his flight
(6) Summoned next day by the Elders of the clan
Little did he know of their secret plan
On him the Elders pronounced great shame
On the heroic bird who wished no fame
His great achievement he wished to share
Instead he was shocked into despair
(7) He tried to explain as best as he could
Closed minds broke the bonds of brotherhood
Whomever he once knew as his own
Their hearts now had turned into stone
He worried not for his own solitude
If the glory of flight, the Flock had valued
(8) And so the seagull Jonathan Livingstone
Left home for the Far Cliffs where he flew alone
He lived long and made new discoveries
Of unnecessary waste of woes and worries
He found out why a gulls life was short
‘Twas boredom, fear
and anger in thought
(9) He learnt a little more everyday
To him abundance found its way
Through heavy sea fogs above he climbed
There the dazzling skies to find
On the ground stood gulls in mist and rain
Flying high Jonathan found nothing but gain
(10) Many years like this passed by
He flew across his beloved sky
Two seagulls he saw one day shining bright
Their glow was as pure as starlight
His brothers had come to take him home
The threesome flew into the gloam
(11) Seagull thought, “So this is heaven!”
The burden of his body seemed to lessen
He now had wings like sheets of silver
With which he flew farther and faster
Here all gulls flew a flight perfect
Difficult it was for a flaw to detect
(12) Seagull realized what he knew of perfection
In this place was added a new dimension
Heightened senses allowed him to perceive
The higher levels of perfection to achieve
The difference to him that did strike
Was that all gulls here thought alike
(13) As he was told by his new friend Sullivan
All birds here were one-in-a-million
Lessons of flight he learnt anew
Along with that his wisdom grew
Upon him shone a bright new light
Perfection was not just about flight
(14) One day he approached Elder Chiang
In comparison Jonathan was very young
Soon, Chiang was to move beyond this world
So Jonathan wanted to have a word
“Perfection”, Chiang said, “was not in speed
But from time and space to be freed”
(15) The lesson was about being there
Without flight to be everywhere
It wasn’t about flight at this juncture
The trick was to know his true nature
He closed his eyes and faced the secret
There he was on a new planet
(16) The sun was a double star, the sky was green
More beautiful than what they had ever seen
Jonathan made a scree in delight
He no longer needed flight
Perfection in different worlds had a limit
Each one placed with deserved merit
(17) Chiang taught him to fly the past and future
Jonathan took in everything like a feathered computer
The most difficult lesson was yet to come
This paved the way for ultimate freedom
The learning process was indeed endless
The next lesson was of love and kindness
(18) It was a lesson that Chiang spoke of
“Jonathan, keep working on love”
These were the last words Chiang uttered
Into a blinding light before he disappeared
When Jonathan learnt love’s worth
His thoughts were
only of returning to Earth
(19) Perhaps out there, was another bird
Which the Flock thought was absurd
Perhaps he was a strapping youth
And, like him, in pursuit of truth
Perhaps the Elders’ flak he drew
And, like him, was made an Outcast too
(20) To such a seeker he wished to reach out
And teach him what perfection was all about
His Elders he wished to emulate
His love he wanted to demonstrate
He was, after all, born an instructor
To younger seekers a loving proctor
(21) Could Jonathan teach the gulls on the ground
The lofty truth which he had found
Could he show them the heights of heaven
Whose own wingtips they couldn’t reckon
His friend Sullivan strongly did protest
For a gull sees farthest who flies highest
(22) So he stayed back and taught new birds
But his mind kept going back homewards
He stayed until he could resist no more
This time he was surer than ever before
He bade his friend Sullivan, a loving goodbye
He could reach home without even having to fly
(23) He held in his thought an image of the Flock
And turned back the hands of the clock
He was not feather, he was not bone
Not even the need to be airborne
With practiced ease he had got it right
A perfect idea of freedom and flight
(24) Fletcher Lynd Seagull was left aghast
When the Elders decided to make him an outcast
Like Jonathan he lived far away
On the Far Cliffs he practiced day after day
One day he saw a gull most brilliant white
He looked on in awe and mostly in fright
(25) This brilliant light was the great Jonathan
He seeked those whom others had shun
Fletcher heard Jonathan like a voice in his mind
Telling him to forgive and to be kind
At first Fletcher could not understand
Was it real or was he in dreamland
(26) Slowly it dawned upon Fletcher
This magnificent being was here as a teacher
Fletcher was rough but he learnt very fast
One by one all limitations he surpassed
Perfection of flight was a way to show
There was an ultimate truth for all to know
(27) Slowly other outcasts started coming in
Their confidence Jonathan could win
Gradually the group grew in size
And one day they flew into the skies
Into forbidden land they made a grand entry
In their way showed the world had no boundary
(28) The outcast group remained in the fringe
Behind this action there was a hinge
There were many with suppressed desires
In complacent guises, hidden live wires
To draw them from their stagnant existence
And set them on the path of excellence
(29) Few birds in the Flock who had watched in awe
As the Outcast birds flew without a flaw
Slowly began to come up to the group
Quite fed up they were of the imposed coop
Though they were made Outcasts too
They didn’t mind as long as they flew
(30) They begged and groveled for lessons in flying
Jonathan, to teach, was more than willing
From the Flock came in Kirk and Terrence
Slowly but surely crossing the fence
Jonathan spoke every word with wisdom
Only one Law existed which led to freedom
(31) They came from the Flock to idolize
They came from the Flock to criticize
They made you a devil or made you a god
They forced upon you unwanted reward
Heaving a deep sigh Jonathan said
“It’s the price you pay for being ahead”
(32) Fletcher had now become a tutor
Following in the footsteps of his mentor
One day he was demonstrating a move
Showing his pupils how they could improve
Avoiding a young bird he hit the rock wall
This was Fletcher’s final call
(33) He realized that he had had a hard knock
In a burst of fear, black and shock
Adrift in another world with a strange sky
Euphoric to learn that he didn’t die
And then he heard Jonathan’s voice
In this world, he said, he had a choice
(34) Jonathan explained to him of death
As a level of consciousness without breath
The choice was to stay back and continue to learn
Or to teach the Flock he could return
His pupils in the Flock he wanted to reach
So he chose to go back to them and teach
(35) In practice if one sows the seed
In time one grows to succeed
Through flight a great truth Jonathan taught
The body was but itself a thought
Embedded in each is this grand wisdom
Who dares to seek is awarded freedom
(36)Fletcher closed his eyes and spread his wings
This was one of the strangest things
The Flock watched Fletcher in utter dread
Had he returned from the dead
“Devil”, they cried like the ocean storm
“He’s come back to do us harm”
(37) Ready for siege squawking and screeching
Wings and beaks beating and swaying
The Flock prepared for a crushing attack
Jonathan and Fletcher in a flash went back
With dazed eyes the Flock closed in on thin air
Bewildered to find no one there
(38) Fletcher blinked at the change of scene
Suddenly everything was quite and serene
This event Fletcher took time to process
What was the cause of such incense?
Fletcher little knew that in such acts unbidden
Of love there was a lesson hidden
(39) Fletcher was amazed at the ire of the mob
How they had tried of their lives to rob
He asked how one could love such birds
Jonathan replied with simple words
It’s not love for the hatred and the evil
Practice to see the good in each gull
(40) To make each one in themselves to see
From shackles of limitations to help them break free
Of all vices to stand high above
This is the true meaning of love
To get the knack of it when you have begun
It can become indeed quite fun
(41) Jonathan prepared to leave his beloved student
Whose love for learning was, like him, as ardent
He again and again went on to stress
That learning is all about being limitless
Jonathan’s body shimmered and wavered
The mentor he had so much adored
(42) He warned Fletcher never to make him a god
What was given in love demanded no reward
He was just a seagull and loved to fly
Limitations always deceive the eye
Fletcher was to now take Jonathans place
And towards the light lead the Flock in grace
(43) Jonathan vanished as Fletcher looked on
The Great Gull he’d grown to rely upon
He turned to the group of his new eager students
Bursting to tell them of limitless extents
Unlimited freedom and flight he taught
The body between wingtips was itself a thought
(44)His pupils looked at him in question
This was not the awaited lesson
Though he wanted to look proper and severe
For a moment saw all of them as they really were
He loved what it was that he saw
But started off with the fundamental Law
(45)”No limits, Jonathan?”, he thought and he smiled
Well, wasn’t that what had gotten him exiled?
Don’t be surprised Jonathan, if I appear on your beach
And a lesson or two in flying to you I teach
He turned to his students with the basic lesson plan
“Let’s begin with level flight”, he sighed and he began
(46)Relative is the idea of far and near
Remove space and whats left is "here"
Likewise the idea of future and past
Such thoughts are within the frame of time cast
Remove time and what’s left is "now"
Only practice can truly show you how
Bindu Vidyadhar
