Silence in the Forest

Everything declares the presence
of the predators that visited last night;
their excreta, chewed food, pugmark,
moist dung of the pachydrum,
tiny feather of the lark
tell us that it is their abode
we are only intruders,
that all of us are
one way or the other, poachers;
an impediment to the growth
of the Natural World.
We always destroy
while planning to conserve and develop.
For our safety we visit the forest
during the day, when considering us
enemies they remain out of our way;
only the naives like the hornbill,
Nilgiri langur or Malabar giant squirrel
are found like the innocent butterflies
who are in a conference, to be precise.

The absolute silence during the pause
when we become a collective silent entity
undisturbed by the nocturnal
shriek, roar or howl of the jungle
or diurnal chatting, swaggering, babbling,
doting and blubbering of the humans,
the golden moment comes; we realise
as everything on earth ceases to be.