Birthday Bells

Hark! The Parthi Bells are ringing
Echoing o’er land and sea and sky!

The Sun is hurrying up the hills
Lest He be late with Light;
The stars—they linger in the sky
They’d rather stay and watch!
The moon is peeping Crescent‑eyes
To glimpse the glorious scene.
The clouds are dressed in burnished gold;
The sky has chosen pink and blue
The peaks that stand around
Are happy in home‑made green!

Since dawn, the lambs are frisking
And every tree is full of glee.
Each leafy twig is loud with song
E’en the lowly blade of grass
Has a lovely diamond in her ear!
Proudest of the feathered throng
Is the dove, He frees this morn
The crow, shooed off from perch to perch
Is unafraid, unashamed, this day!
It caws in raucous joy! Unharmed!

The bees do take a holiday;
The morning flowers are His, untouched.
Sai Gita is full of gratitude
To the trap which orphaned her,
For she could hear the Bells today
And bow before the Lord!

The sands do shine and scintillate
To win the tramp of pilgrim feet.
The very air is tingling
With God and Man, commingling.

—Kasturi, Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Nov. 1971