The Bamboo Curtain

When we moved to our new home a decade ago,
we planted bamboo all along the boundary
wall. Living up to its reputation of being
the fastest growing plant, they shot up and
then the laws of the forest took over. Wood-
land wonders appeared in our backyard.....
Itsy-bitsy spiders wove miniscule webs; myriad
ants made little mounds near the roots and
went about the serious business of crawling!
Black and yellow wasps bore precision round
holes on the stems and went into hibernation!
Dry leaves fell, rotted, and turned to soil
food. Then in the midst of the dense green,
the doves came to nest. And they kept coming
year after year. The moorhens came too, making
a nest where the foliage was the thickest. This
made me feel like the ( earth ) mother of all
that I survey.

But if birds come, would snakes be far behind?
I saw one gliding about the grove, rather majes-
tically. On any sunny day, lizards ( the ones
with a tinge of red on the back ) bask, loath
to move. And we thought that the bamboo would
be just a hedge! I still marvel at what we got
in exchange!