Shaanti ( Peace )

Clips of a terror campaign
were on TV, that day.

I was chatting with Mother,

a whitish pigeon
perched in skylight,
was watching.

All of a sudden,
the bird ruffled her feathers,
flapped her wings,
cooed,

went on cooing.

Mom tried to get her out
through the window,

only feathers fluttered.

I tried. In vain.

TV screen was a chaos;
with explosions,
with blood.

I put it off.

Surprisingly, the wings calmed down.

We call the pigeon "Shaanti",
make sure
no blood is 'on display'

while she is around.