‘Tis a tale of a love undying

Attraction between two unlike being-

One was a jasmine with beauty, extraordinary

The other, a sparrow with courage but the ordinary

And yet irony strikes, as it was a love one-sided-

The fair-feathered guy wants something deep

Whilst the flower wants nothing more than friendship.

 

Hard it is for the jasmine to be true,

Indeed, to break it will bring him blue.

So to ease the hurt, she took time to think

To find a way to give him a hint,

“I shall give my heart to you in an instant

Only if you’ll make happen what I demand.

Turn my white petals to red,” she continues

“And receive my love if it becomes new.”

 

And so she thought it was over,

Yet the guy felt he’d chance to win her.

 

Seeing a hope in the cloudy sky

The sparrow flew and rose so high

Wasting no time, he sought for good advice

To the Great Owl, he went out to try.

 

Upon hearing the little bird’s narration,

The Owl perceive the white flower’s insinuation,

“To turn a jasmine to red overnight,

Is as impossible as catching a pinch of light.

Her summon is of no solutions,”

Disclosing his nearing conclusion,

"Poor young fellow, don’t you understand

It is not you, the fair lady wants.”

 

With disbelief, he left weeping all out loud

With desperation, he soared through the woody crowd

At end, he found himself despairing unduly

Unnoticing his small wound bleeding so badly.

In time, he discovered his cut agitating

Seemly, he saw his blood all-gushing;

Determined as he was to erase his worry,

An idea entered his mind to answer his query

“All she wanted is to be red,

With my blood, I shall turn her into red.”

 

Settled, he hummed to the wind his goodbye

“To make her happy, I’ll risk my life.”  

And with the fading of the sun in the west

He picked up a twig and pierces his breast.

Lacerating, he flap his wings to fly onto her

Make the blood squirt and bleed all over her.

Grasping for breath, he tried to bury the twig more

Drawing much blood to dye her red more.

 

And it was over.

 

As the moonlight shone down to her new petal crown,

He was crying with bliss to see how beautiful she’d become.

Weak and tired, he tried to fly far with no sound

But as the wind blows, he faints to the ground.

 

Soon, the day was dawning

Everybody saw the jasmine’s color changing.

Not far from her was the sparrow dying

Rousing with his bloodstained body weakening.

 

“Forgive me, my dear jasmine, for I fail

I have turned you not into red, only pale.

Your petals have changed only into mild red

Forgive me, if it’s not what you wanted.”

 

Confusion struck the mind of the lady

Guilt invaded her heart, unhappy.

Tears, not of love, but of pity

Rushed from her eyes with honesty,

“‘Tis not what I expected,

I want no life be suspended.”

 

Too late for her sympathy

The winged fellow is drowned with agony.

 

For the last time, the sparrow tried to utter

His acceptance and farewell to the jasmine flower.

 

“Now I know, what you want to imply

You do not love me, that is why.

Love does really conquers everything-

But it changes not the reality of everything-

I am a bird and you are not,

You are a flower and I am not

Much more your eyes see just through me

Much more your heart feels nothing for me…”