{"id":3064,"date":"2021-03-17T06:22:38","date_gmt":"2021-03-17T06:22:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themindpalace.in\/?p=3064"},"modified":"2023-12-18T15:42:33","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T15:42:33","slug":"to-a-pair-of-sarus-cranes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themindpalace.in\/index.php\/2021\/03\/17\/to-a-pair-of-sarus-cranes\/","title":{"rendered":"To a Pair of Sarus Cranes – Summary and Notes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Summary of the poem<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u0c95\u0ca8\u0ccd\u0ca8\u0ca1 \u0c85\u0ca8\u0cc1\u0cb5\u0cbe\u0ca6 \/ Summary in Kannada<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The male was shot
as he necked
to pull the reluctant sun out
from the rim of horizon.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“To a Pair of Sarus Cranes” is a sad poem that tells the tragic story of a male Sarus Crane who is shot while attempting to greet the rising sun in the morning. The male crane’s noble gesture is met with a brutal end as he is killed, leaving his partner to witness the horrifying scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


She flew crying
as he was picked up hands and jaws
and a proud neck was humbled
to lie like dirty linen
in a coarse washing bag.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As hunters pick up the dead crane in their hand, his proud neck, a symbol of grace and beauty, is reduced to hanging “like dirty piece cloth” in a bag, a stark contrast to his former majesty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


She circled the sky
in movements of grace
over his disgraceful end.
The killers went away and she returned
to the death\u2019s scene<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The female crane, filled with sorrow and despair, cries out and circles the sky in graceful movements, mourning the disgraceful death of her partner. The hunters of the crime leave, but she returns to the site of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

with grief that inscribed its intensity
in dots and pits
like the Morse code of bird\u2019s sorrow
transmitted to the air.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sound of her cries and the silence in between punched the air with her grief “like the Morse code of bird’s sorrow.” Marking her grief with symbolic actions, the poem captures the intensity of the bird’s sorrow, likening it to Morse code transmitted to the air, emphasizing the profound and emotional impact of the loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


With her beak she kissed a few feathers
picked the ones that wind had not taken away
and sat to hatch
the blood stained feathers
into a toddling chick.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She used her beak to kiss a few remaining feathers which are not yet blown away by the wind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a defiant act of love, the crane gathers her mate’s feathers, even the blood-stained ones, and sits to hatch them. This act is symbolic, a refusal to let his death be the end. She hopes to hatch life from the remnants of tragedy, to carry his memory forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The female crane’s actions convey a deep connection to her mate, as she endeavors to preserve his memory through the hatching of their offspring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A wave of the seas she had never seen
came to her from far away
and carried her to him.
She went away beyond Hume\u2019s words,
beyond the legends and fables of human love.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The poem suggests her love goes beyond human understanding. Her grief is “a wave of the seas she had never seen,” a depth of emotion beyond words. She goes “beyond Hume’s words, beyond the legends and fables of human love,” suggesting her connection with her mate challenges the human definition of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As she sits on the blood-stained feathers, a metaphorical wave from an unknown sea reaches her, carrying her spirit to her deceased mate. The poem concludes by suggesting that the female crane rises above human expressions of love, going beyond the words of Hume, as well as the legends and fables (stories) associated with human emotions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In summary, the poem explores themes of love, loss, and grief through the lens of nature, using the story of the Sarus Cranes to evoke a powerful emotional response and reflect on the universal aspects of life and death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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David Hume\u2019s words paint a poignant picture of the deep bond and profound grief experienced by Sarus Cranes in the wake of losing their mate.<\/strong> His observations, captured in “The Game Birds of India, Burma and Ceylon” (1881), highlight the remarkable devotion and sensitivity exhibited by these magnificent creatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s what we can glean from Hume’s words:<\/p>\n\n\n\n