Visitors on my Terrace

As always, I was searching for an excuse to delay doing pranayaam by some more time. I thought I should eat something, something light, so I fished out a cup of strawberry yogurt. I then thought I should read the headlines first, so I lingered over the headlines for some time. Then I thought I should check my email again, so I was just going to do that when I heard something that caught my attention. It was the chirping of birds outside. Are they on the terrace, I wondered. I went to the door and through the net I saw some four or five sparrows on the terrace, darting from here to there, chirping loudly. All of a sudden they flew away. I stepped outside. It was sun set time. I could see rooftops and balconies till far away. In between the rooftops there were clumps of trees, and it was in these trees at this time that there was the greatest noise and commotion. Flocks of twittering birds flying from one green spot to the other, quickly alighting in balconies and flying off the next instant.

I have spent many evenings on the terrace, with a book, or tea, or phone or just by myself to watch the sun set, and on a clear day, to catch a glimpse of Mt Fuji. But today, I think the birds were particularly noisy and active, there definitely was something they were all excited about. Their twittering and chirping and quick undulating flights from one balcony to the other tree and all the noisy commotion was music to my ears. As I came back in with a lighter step, I was smiling and I remembered these lines from The Daffodils...'And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.'