The tail that blinks

How, then, can you see a peacock? The poet's advice is surprising: do not go looking for it. Sit on the veranda, and lose yourself in a favourite book.

Then the signs will come: a blue shadow falls across the page, the wind turns, the hum of the bees stops, and the cat stretches.

If you look up at just the right moment, you may catch the peacock turning away, and folding its tail.

The 'eyes' on a peacock's tail feathers are violet, edged with amber. Those 'eyes' can never close; so, the poet imagines, the whole tail must 'blink' for them, by folding.

In Indian tradition, the peacock stands for beauty, the monsoon and Lord Krishna, who wears its feather. It is India's national bird.

The peacock, the poem suggests, comes when you are not looking for it.