Thursday, February 21, 2019

THE TAVERN-- TREE



         


           
    1)     Before my birth long ago in this tiny town

             When our great grandfathers settled here

             Beside this peepal tree, a popular retreat

              A tavern Called “White Swan” was seen.


     2)     Wayfarers called this place not by its name

              But by its location as “The Tavern-Tree”:

              And now beneath that titan-tree we find

              A coffee-house with a few remnants of past :


      3)      A broken chair, an old table and a long teak bench

               A dull drab marble statue in a nook

               Perhaps of a pretty lady serving wine

               From a flask decked with wreathes of silver foil.


       4)     On the old withered wall a picture hung

               Of a Persian lass pouring sherbet

                To weary travelers dressed in white long robes

                While their camels knelt down with dreaming eyes.


       5)      A broken goblet huge with blue designs

                 Which others named as that of sea-god

                 Decked with sea-shells and dressed in mossy blue

                 Boozing with sea-nymphs under his blue caves.


       6)       A tablet half-broken with mystic symbols

                  A brown tortoise shell served as a paper weight

                  A cupboard filled with sundry tokens strange

                  Which once flourished as worthy prized possessions. 


       7)        Beneath the chain-hung lantern light did meet

                   Our predecessors used to chat and chat

                   Sipping foreign wine and eating tasty dishes

                   Talking about their rich estates and gains they made.


       8)        They merrily talked of their crops and cattle

                   About the myths of magic and heroes old:

                   Of their podgy wives and country damsels

                   Interspersed with jocund shouts of laughter and cries.


       9)          Some spoke about their ancestral homes with pride

                     About their prestige in the royal courts

                     Some showed their heirlooms as the sovereign proof

                     Of their noble line and their charitable deeds. 

               
      10)         Upon their table a marble elfin stood

                     With her slender arm outstretched in graceful pose

                     From whence arose sweet fragrance in curly clouds

                     Distilled from herbs of Java and fertile France ;


      11)           The attar of sweetest Samarkand and Ceylon

                       In costly crystal vials awaited their call

                       While foaming wine in sparking goblets

                       Welcomed them with tempting ruddy looks.


      12)            To cheer their hearts damsels with lotus-eyes

                        Attuned their lyres and sang voluptuous songs

                        As rich landlords threw gifts in liberal measure

                         Praising their skills by clapping hands.


      13)             Those glories fled and those rich merry lords

                         No dancer danced, no song and no drumming sound

                         No frothing wine in crystal goblets and no perfumes

                         No merry round of talk, no pretty lasses seen;


       14)            Only a drab coffee-shed with faded paintings found

                         Where poor folk come to sip coffee from broken cups

                         Smoking cheap cigars and making ribald jokes

                         Ogling at passing rustic girls with gestures lewd.


       15)             The tavern-tree stands like a witness mute

                          Half-worn by denting time with broken boughs 
                        
                          Only a few old men remember still

                          Those bygone happy days with tear-filled eyes.


                                ************************

           22nd February, 2019                          Somaseshu Gutala

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