A Brahmin boy turning a driver at last;
A strange affair, some people thought;
But Hari ignored their views and tried
To earn his bread with no sense of pride.
Unable to pursue his studies he found
His friend’s advice proper and sound;
A poor priest’s son, how can he aim
At lofty goals and professions prime?
He worked with vigor both day and night
To earn and help his family in plight;
In keeping
with his state, he married
A girl free
of dowry with no sense of greed;
His expenses
quickly rose in various ways;
His restless
mind in bad company sought solace;
Blessed with
two daughters he made too many debts
Driving for
days his family he left
His father’s
sage advice he did not heed;
He could not
meet his family’s needs;
Vexed with
his ways his spouse began to fume and fret;
Addicted to
booze he did not regret;
Evil habits
and wayward ways upset
His feeble
health and suddenly he met
With a fatal
accident and was not fit
To drive due
to ill-health and lost
His
livelihood and in heavy debts caught;
With his
wife and daughters, village he left;
He could not
find means to clear off his debts;
His wife
left him with daughters somewhere;
She turned a
cook her children’s expenses to bear;
He found
shelter to work under a priest;
A helper in
conducting funeral feasts;
The Vedic
hymns he learnt in his boyhood days
Helped him
to do his work in many ways;
A few
cooking tips from his mother he caught
Made him
work as a cook in priest’s business vast;
Free food
and shelter for himself he got
About his
poor family he sadly thought;
His
daughters as maid- servants toiled a lot
And yet they
studied without losing heart;
He seemed to
realize his grievous fault;
Lessons too late
he seemed to realize.
Blunders and
blows made his mind wise;
When I
watched him serving food
He gazed at
me with keen looks shrewd
Like the
ancient mariner in the fabled tale;
Who followed
the guest with countenance pale;
He spoke in
a low, pensive voice slow
Of his happy
past and destiny’s blow;
He visits
his home now and then to behold.
His wife and
daughters with conscience cold.
His wife’s
spurning looks seared his guilty mind.
Still he
hopes for her pardon for his rash acts blind.
The vilest sinners
are forgiven by God;
Why erring
mortals so vindictive and hard?
He found in
me a patient listener to vent his grief.
A kind
comforting word gives him relief;
Time will
transform our lives and everything.
Likewise, a
happy compromise in his life may bring.
*********************
Note: "The Rime of the ancient mariner" – Written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1798 describes
a sailor’s experience when his ship was caught in icy Antarctica seas. By
mistake he killed an innocent bird that alighted on the deck. The other sailors
thought that this sinful deed would bring them bad luck. So, they forced him to
wear the dead bird on a rope round his neck so that they would not get punished
for his crime. Bereft of food and water he suffers a lot and sees
hallucinations of a ghost ship carrying the grisly figure of death and another
figure called Life-in-death. All the sailors fell dead except him. The sailor
feels guilty and repentant for his sinful act. A sense of pity and love gushed
from his conscience on seeing the water- snakes glistening on the waves of the sea. He
fell into a trance and a shower of rain touched his lips. When he was awake, he
found himself in another ship. He was rescued by another ship’s captain. From
then he wandered narrating his story to anyone to find a sense of solace and comfort.
********************************
really touching story that we can all relate to. thanks appa for sharing.
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