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Music rediscovered

I can hear the owls again.
Can you hear their soft tu-whoo,
The courser’s sharp kwik-kwoo,
The call of the sole moorhen?
The night is quiet again,
So the nightjar can sing too.
And a sporadic moo,
I can hear it now and then!

The little crickets court;
With love-ballads seldom heard
Their talents do employ.
What is it that they purport?
Its music rediscovered,
Now the darkness rings with joy!

This was written in response to the Supreme Court verdict banning noise at night.

(Published in Chants of Peace, the anthology of the 9th International Poetry Fest, 20-21 September, 2016 at JKC College, Guntur, edited by Prof. P Nagasuseela and Prof. P Gopichand.)

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