A Home For Daphne 4 - A Laurel Wreath Poem by Unnikrishnan Sivasankara Menon
A Home For Daphne 4 - A Laurel Wreath
As days passed, Aps grew skeptical
Of his nest weaving skills, for
Though, many females showed interest
Daphne made no visit to the nest.
One evening, he reviewed
His work on the new nest
Thought it worthless and
Was about to pick it to shards.
He sat on the coconut leaf
Looking at his new nest
Unfinished, and as darkness fell,
He fell asleep dreaming of his love.
He woke up to loud cheering
Scared as he was, fearing
again, his nest was stolen
But, lo! In his nest sat his Daphne.
She sang a sweet little song for him
In tune with the swinging of his nest
His heart swinged and sang with her
But his voice lost, sing he couldn't.
She flew over to sit near him
Rubbed her sweet beaks on his,
'May I join to build our nest with you?
I am eager to start my life with you'.
Her words presented him
With a ‘Laurel Wreath'
As if he had won all the medals
In the Olympic Games.
The reference to a Laurel Wreath: Laurel Wreath was the award/medal presented to winners in ancient Olympic Games. In the mythology, Daphne is pictured as turning herself into a Laurel Tree, in order to escape the amorous pursuit of Apollo.
Dr. Salim Ali reports that the male weaver birds make the nests all alone. While the work is progressing, the females visit the work-in-progress. Often, once the nests are not liked by the female birds, they are abandoned by the male birds half-way through, and start work on a new nest.
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7/18/2025 5:34:16 PM # 1.0.0
The end of stanza 4 made me smile. ;) 'Swung is the past tense and past participle of swing', but swinged is the 'Simple past tense and past participle of swinge.' And swinge, which I'd not heard of, has other meanings. ! ! bri
Yes I knew! But I made a mistake with ‘swinged'. Thank You for pointing it out. Shall correct it. Thank You.