‘I see you in my sleep / Awake, you are an absence I endure’: A poem for vanishing sparrows

According to Scroll.in, author and historian Mukul Kesavan has marked World Nature Conservation Day with a new poem dedicated to the vanishing sparrow population. The piece, titled 'I see you in my sleep / Awake, you are an absence I endure', reflects on the ecological shifts that have led to the decline of the common house sparrow in urban environments.

The poem serves as a literary commentary on the broader theme of World Nature Conservation Day, which is observed annually to raise awareness about the importance of protecting natural resources and biodiversity. By focusing on the sparrow—a bird once ubiquitous in Indian cities—Kesavan highlights the quiet loss of biodiversity that often accompanies rapid urbanization and environmental change.

World Nature Conservation Day is recognized globally to encourage sustainable practices and the preservation of threatened species. Through his work, Kesavan contributes to the ongoing discourse regarding the human impact on local ecosystems, using poetry to draw attention to the environmental degradation that frequently goes unnoticed in daily life.