by Monica Gokaldas

It squeaked, it chirped!
Behind the seats it smirked,
Flying and perching in enemy territory,
The tiny little bird was churning inventory.

They gasped and they gaped,
Its movement they caped…
Giving them an adrenaline rush,
It gave their expertise a crush.

A tiny feathered thrush,
Whisked past them a-brush…
Leaving a trail of their failure,
On board the Emirates it found air.

With its measured moves light,
It challenged the mighty ones’ might..
Chasing them out before the flight,
Unfastened the seat belts fastened tight.

It caused quite a delay and fright,
To the schedules that run so tight….
Lounging and duty free turned boring,
While they wanted to rest and go snoring.

The amusement of a bird on board,
Caused fidgeting mind and feet cold…
The wait seemed unending,
The bird had found a new landing.

The power game went on,
The struggle too caught on…
It escaped all their moves,
By displaying its feathery grooves.

EK 380 to Hongkong…
Turned out to be epic history…..
When one boarded and re boarded,
Yet none angry nor being scolded.

They waited with patience,
They waited in exhaustion….
The passengers and the crew,
Hungry and tired albeit they grew.

The struggle was immense,
Yet for some it made no sense…
All the flight’s daring and caring,
Couldn’t help the fluttering bearing.

Meanwhile it felt so lost,
And wanted to fly out at any cost…
It braved the masses a couple of times,
Attempting to save one of its precious bird lives.

Uncaged yet far from being free,
Liberty it needed in a soaring spree….
The duty hours of crew ran overdue,
The families in Hongkong waited without a clue.