The Bird and the Tide

The bird and the tide

I wait and wait

Anxious for the liquid to go back

The tide they call is yet to recede

And so at the beach, I wait.

Slowly I see, the powerful sea

Gently in her flow making a roll

Going back opening the shore

For us, her waiting children.

I see my kind

Flocking ashore, for the beach is bare

And there is so much to share

She brought us the treasure of the deep.

The gift of the mother sea

Is enough for all of us to feed

The kind and powerful mother

For your kindness, we thank thee.

The story behind this poem:

When I used to work at Centre for Environment Education, Science Education was a part of my job and I used to take nature trails, stay on camps as science educator, take lectures in universities, etc. In a marine camp (A typical marine camp looks like this), we had students of Mahatma Gandhi International School, Ahmedabad over for two and a half days of camping at the shores of Beyt Dwarka. The teaching style and teachers of this school is very creative. Ms. Amla Shukla, One of the teachers accompanying with the students was taking a session on creative writing, where in she asked the students to gather early morning on the beach, instructed them to observe the beach, become one of the elements and think of the tide from that element’s point of view and then note down what would that element feel about the swelling and receding tide. Once you have the feelings written, weave these feelings into a poem and then illustrate your poem (She had a box full of pencil colors, sharpeners and erasers!). I found this so refreshing from normal boring classroom sessions of poetry that even I participated. The outcome was this poem written above and the illustration below that.

Author: Sneha Dharwadkar

Hello and welcome to my blog. I am Sneha Dharwadkar, a Wildlife Biologist by profession currently working on herpetofauna (reptiles and amphibians) in Tillari region of the Northern Western Ghats, India. I am practically in love with herpetofauna (reptiles and amphibians- some of the creepy crawlies!) and more so with turtles. I find solace in nature and run to the woods whenever and as much as I can and also love to travel (because of which I am broke most of times). I love talking (I do better talking than writing). Apart from wildlife and travel; I raise my voice for gender equality. This blog has materialized after I finally did overcome my fright for writing and after pushing myself (and many of my friends pushing me) to tell the stories of my adventures. On this blog, I will be writing about my wildlife adventures, field experiences, travelogues and interesting encounters with wildlife or people. Feel free to write back to me or tweet to me @herpomania. View all posts by Sneha Dharwadkar