Seagull

(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