The wood outhouse in our backyard has no top;
Only a few shafts can see the full sky when I look up.
Fuming or cool like a mother’s mood
When her kids refuse or agree for food. 1
The wood outhouse in our backyard has no side covers
Only a low fence can see trees and bushes live like lovers.
The secret language they use for chat
The bird on the tree knows and the pussy cat 2
There is a rubber ball kids have kicked and thrown
It jumps up in joy when hits the ground
Or is it the Mother Earth that lifts it up to boost
It’s spirits, after healing its wound? 3
Why these little squirrels are in hurry, I wonder
To buy tickets to climb walls and wander?
Why are these birds noisy and restless?
When the sky is calm, no lightning or thunder? 4
Oh, they want to run away from me, as I’m singing!
Is singing a crime? No, they say, ‘you are bungling’.
” The court singer of heaven, Air, is your teacher
How can I match you?’ I ask ashamed of my torture.. 5
There is a fireplace close by, to warm us in winter
What a fool am I? I am fire, the sky is fire, and oceans are fire.
The fire of love pushed me into mother’s womb
The fire of life makes me breathe; the fire of Death will take away. . 6
The wood outhouse in our backyard has no top or sides
‘Why do you call it a house and not deck then?” you ask.
For squirrels, cats, birds, lizards and butter flies,
A wayside shelter, a way for my flutter. 7
Yes, I flutter with joy when I sit there
When the sun, birds and animals sit very near
I utter the glory of the high sky
Looking up, oh, how far but how close by! 8