BEHIND THY MYSTIC SMILE

                               

                                                      I

                     Behind Thy mystic smile

                     A million meanings lie;

                     Our feeble reason too feeble to spy

                     As deep as fertile flowing Nile;

                     Our mortal brains stuffed with too many facts

                     Our raging actions can’t unveil thy acts.

                                           I I 

                     Our blunders proudly we defend

                     Our faults and lapses we never own

                     To temptations vile we are easily prone;

                     Our misdeeds we never try to mend

                     Our mind is like a stray dog’s crooked tail;

                     We fall into old rut and easily fail.

                                        I I I

                    We blame others and try to throw

                    The cause of our wrongs on others with ease

                    To gain our ends others we flatter to please

                    We hide our faults with smooth veneer-show;

                    We stick to our views with stubborn hold

                    No matter fair or foul, both young and old.  

                                              I V

                  Man thinks he lives forever here

                  His mind becomes a restless, crazy beast

                  Prodding him to falter and act indiscreet;

                  Passions spring like weeds of anger and fear

                 We tend to think ourselves as wise and cool

                 Time treats us at last as short-sighted fools.

                                                V

                 We spend our time in chasing fame and wealth

                 In perverted ways to gratify our lust and greed

                Time’s warnings we never care to heed

                Our hasty pursuit exhausts our mind and health

                To be victims of diseases, stress and strain;

                To drag our days at last in despair and disdain.

                                         V I

               Power rolls like a tumbling stone

               To grab power by any means, man stakes his all

               Bartering and giving promises tall;

              Once power lost, he seems a ruined castle alone;

              So many years he fought and harshly did he rave

              All his arrogance at last leads him to his grave. 

                                          V I I

            Man’s wish to keep himself forever young and strong 

            Through potions and gels and surgical ways;

            Will not keep him against swift aging days;

            Our beauty-tips skin-deep will not last long;

            The graves of rich royal queens seem to scoff

            Our futile fight against time’s change to stop.

                                  V I I I

           The immense knowledge of which we feel so proud

           Solving unknown secrets of this universe;

           Has not upgraded our nature sinking worse

          Our long-gathered wisdom vanishes like a cloud;

          Life spent in chasing flitting fire soon ends

          Life is full of sudden twists and crooked bends. 

                                   I X

         Though we defy death as our foe

         Devising many means to cross that abyss deep

         Death wins at last to give us peaceful sleep;

         Peace from ever restless prodding woes

         Peace from worldly worries and grievous maladies 

         Dark Mother, guiding us the way to joy and peace. 

                                  X

        Time flows unseen like a subterranean stream       

        Our days dissolve like vapor without our notice;

       Each moment precious before we cease

       Our actions and thoughts shape our future dreams; 

       Get rid of worldly tensions and idle thoughts 

       Think of eternal being and ennoble your heart. 

       We can’t change time, but our outlook and thoughts.

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

         5th September, 2022   Somaseshu Gutala

 

 

 

 

 

    

  

         

 

 

 

THE SCOURGE OF NATURE

 

        

                      

            

              

1.     Nature seems to unfold her mighty rage

 To remind man’s persistent follies;

  Man, ever destroying Nature with selfish craze

  How can he simply ruin useful plains and trees?

  How can he murder lovely creatures wild?

  Or cage them simply to feed his cruel pride

  Can he create lost treasures of Nature again?

  Can he re-fill the void and soothe her pain?

  Man’s monstrous deeds imprinted on eternal time

  Rebound with might to chastise his inhuman crimes.

 

2.      Seasons went out of tune and their ordained laws

  With unruly winds that confounds our technical brain;

  As if to strike back man’s repeated flaws

  As if they rebelled due to unbearable strain  

  Our reckless actions lead to total chaos.

  Punishing mankind with inestimable loss

  What folly have those dumb creatures done?

  Why should they face annihilation?

  What right man has to meddle with creation?

  What right man has to spread pollution? 

 

3.      The furious cyclone lashed many a place

  Pouncing like a wounded tiger without restraint;

  Winds whirled unbridled like stallions in a race

  The bridges and culverts down into deep waters went

  Housed trembled flooded with rain-waters knee-deep

  Tall trees and poles struck down by stormy sweep;

  Lawless encroachments did enormous harm

  Swelling drain-waters aggravated by storm

  Changed every roadway into a cesspool

  Gross negligence of planning and rules.

 

4.      Houses and shops full-drenched with flooding rains

  All furniture drowned and damaged beyond repair;

  All roads submerged, and cancelled all buses and trains;

  All public facilities went out of gear;

  People suffered a lot for want of water and bread

  Rains played havoc and left many a cattle dead

  Bare promises like distant mirages shone

  All their fruits of labour suddenly gone;

  Whom shall we blame for this grim catastrophe dire?

  Can man’s dry knowledge control mighty Nature’s ire? 

 

5.      Poor farmers’ crops washed off in torrential rain

  No proper storage provided to store their grain;

  Their year-long labour went down the drain;

  Can meagre compensation assuage their pain?

  Mere empty promises hang like barren clouds

  Famished and debt-ridden languish poor crowds;

  None can predict weather and vagaries of seasons;

  But can reduce loss with planning and vision.

  So many kill themselves in debt-trap caught

  Food grains in granaries go waste and rot.

 

6.    Help comes too late to relieve their pain

Nature exploited affects in several ways

Forests destroyed and burnt for selfish gain;

Rivers ravaged and diverted of their wonted ways;

We trade with Nature’s patience immense

Wiping out creatures and forests dense;

So many rare, useful species went extinct

Man lost his bond with Nature and human instincts;

Nature’s gifts with greed we grossly misuse

Vicious, destructive means we wrongly choose.

 

7.    Man’s grabbing nature, power and guile

Ruined most of Nature’s precious gifts;

His reckless, wasteful exploiting style

Sounded his own death-knell and created a rift;

The balancing forces he disturbed with brutal might

The gifts of science perverted with cruel delight

Caused this plight of facing extinction dire;

Nature’s forces rebelled against the world entire.

Still not realizing future disasters and gloom

He indulges in piling weapons of dreadful doom.

 

8.     We can’t create what we deliberately lost

Still, what is left we can at least protect;

 Let man live with Nature with humane heart

 Let not this world be a war-torn lifeless desert;

 Our so-called well-developed mind too shallow to see

 The adverse effects of wasting and polluting spree;

 Let us make use of our discerning brain

 Let us not fight like brutes in battles vain;

 Let us not waste our knowledge earned with so much strain

 Let us not throw our precious culture into the drain; 

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

     25th August, 2022                   Somaseshu Gutala

Note : The world loses almost six million hectares of forest each year due to deforestation. Nearly 64% of tropical rain forests in the world are destroyed. Over two lakh acres of rainforests are burned every day. Humanity has wiped out 60% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles. Animals like black Rhinoceros, the Tasmanian tiger, the Malabar civet, the flightless bird, Dodo, the Asiatic cheetah are wiped out of existence due to man’s indiscriminate hunting. Many animals like the Asiatic lion, the Bengal tiger, snow leopard, the Kashmiri red stag. The black buck, the great Indian bustard, the Nilgiri mountain goat and the one-horned rhinoceros are on the verge of extinction. Sea creatures like the sea otters, the blue whale, fur seals, the green sea turtle, Ridley Sea turtles are among the endangered species. Every year nearly one lakh marine mammals and sea turtles die when they are trapped in plastic nets or eat them. Due to the warming sea surface temperatures, fifty percent of the world’s coral reefs are now dead.  Micro-plastic pollution in the ocean are polluting everything by killing and destroying marine life. Water pollution is created due to contamination of water sources by letting out chemicals, drainage water, oil spill and throwing of rubbish. Deforestation, burning of coal, oil and gas, and emission of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane, hydrofluorocarbons, water vapor, nitrous oxide and ozone. This results in melting of glaciers, rising sea levels and unseasonal floods and draught.  So, man should take necessary precautions and protect Nature for his own survival and for the welfare of other living organisms. He should use organic fertilizers, bio-degradable material, reduce use of pollutants and utilize non-conventional energy sources like solar and wind power. He should lead a simple, and natural life without depending too much on machines and without overconsuming or wasting  resources keeping in view the well-being of future generations. He should curb overexploitation of natural resources and overuse of chemicals and fertilizers, and should not resort to unnatural means to increase production. He should reduce wasteful expenditure and should live in harmony with Nature. “The proper use of science is not to conquer Nature but to live in it.”-Barry Commoner.  As Leo Tolstoy wrote,” One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between man and nature shall not be broken.”

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AT THE RESORT

 

        

                             

                              

                              

.  1.The bright Neon lights sparkled with tempting eyes

   Soft lilting sounds reverberated from inside;

   The receptionist courtesied with winsome smile

   Our entry into this world so cosy and smooth;

   Our eyes caught with new charms ignoring the truth

   A heavy burden, yet our spirits felt agile

   We felt too happy and left our homely place

   Our days ran fast as if in a frantic race.

 

2.      We learnt so many things both good and bad

  We took keen interest almost crazy and mad

  Entangled in the web of worldly links we quite forgot

  About our home and destination, we little thought

  We shot beyond our bounds and cared naught

  We hurt ourselves and wounded many a heart

   We wandered like stormy gale and have little thought 

   Of future burdens we wilfully gripped and caught.

 

3.       The  coloured musical fountains of erotic kind

   Bright-lit with dancing hues captured our minds;

   The spacious swimming pools tinted crystal blue

   With pretty damsels dressed in flashy vibrant design;

   So many temptations with foaming wine

   Unmindful of passing time, like birds we flew;

   About our future we little thought but plunged headlong

   One among the flock submerged in sensuous song. 

 

4.       This merry pantomime how long it goes!  

    How long goes this spectacular show!

    Our lives wear out in same recurring routine

    We pass our days like sheep with no specific goal;

    Like puppets we play our role with no control

    Like breaking waves, events happen unseen

    When shall our evil acts and tendencies end?

    When shall our wasteful ways and idle thoughts we mend?

 

5.       Behind this scintillating sparkling scene

   A puzzling matrix of life-patterns seen

   Deceptive shady masquerading deals

   Illegal veiled intrigues hiding behind

   This whirling vortex beyond our grip to find;

   To fathom their motives, too dark to unveil

   Victims and culprits too intricate to reveal;

 

6.       Enough of this mind-boggling crazy game

   Enough of this vain run after wealth and fame;

   Enough of this vanishing bubbles and dreams;

   This whirling breathless time sapped our zeal at last

   Nothing left now; Flitting mirage of fleeting thoughts;

   Thanks to this treasure of treats that enriched our hearts;

   We have to go back home, left so many years before

Through paths unknown, through dark chambers and doors.

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

    4th August, 2022                       Somaseshu Gutala

 

 

  

   

   

   

 

   

   

 

  

   

    

   

 

OUR PICNIC AT THE CLINIC

                                                             

                  

 

 

1.     People in large numbers, behold!

 Mostly aged persons, ailing persons old;

 As if all diseases congregated here;

 We too joined the crowd, our complaints to share;

 The doctors and nurses too busy their time to spare;

 The nurses moved too swift; none came to hear.

 A tiresome journey to prestigious clinics so far

 Life seemed- with diseases, a perpetual war. 

 

2.      In a long line they have to wait and wait

  A lot of time they have, to talk with mates;

  Stuck to their mobiles, they tend to forget

  Their waiting time so quickly spent;

  They share with others about their complaints

  A rare chance, mingling with strangers they met;

  A long list of medicines they learnt by heart

  From their chronic troubles, many lessons they got.

 

3.      Their sickly state brought them together to chat 

       About our various troubles as we patiently sat;

   A host of age-related diseases long

   Which play hide and seek and will never end

   To keep them under check, they are compelled to spend

   Their hard-earned wealth and prolong

   Their tender health with minimum complaints;

   To stay unconcerned about health, they are not saints.

 

4.       Some talked about their stiff limbs and pain

   Some limped slowly leaning on prop with strain; 

   Some fretted about their hypertension

   Some complained about their rising medical bills;

   Some spoke about pollution’s ills.

   Some about their diabetic state did mention

   Some spoke about their relatives abroad

   Their changed food habits, and manners odd.  

 

5.       Some recalled their youthful days and past

   About their stamina and prizes, they got;

   About how they ran with winged feet

   About how they defeated their rivals strong

   To see their physique perfect how people did throng;

   About their appetite for dishes sweet;

   And how they took keen meticulous care

   Of their habits, food, dressing and wear.

 

6.       Though age has dented their appearance pale

   Their hopes and desires did not seem to fail;

   They loved to dwell in past forgetting their pain

   Rich-laden memories voiced in humorous vein;

   Still, they loved to seek knowledge with interest keen;

   Still, they wish from others, some wisdom gain;

   No more can they travel and freely roam

   Mostly they stay confined to their home. 

 

7.       Though age has sapped their healthy glow

   Their inner spirit like fire in cinders shows

   Their bubbling wit and jovial shine

   Seasoned with maturity, one can spy

   Their natural traits that hardly die

   They radiate their mirth in spite of suffering pain

   They found a touch of intimacy indeed

   With sympathetic care they help others in need.

 

8.      They treat their lives as God-given lessons to know

  Of truths profound and restrain their passions’ flow;

  Age has taught them patience, fortitude and calm

  They have endured so many challenges dire

  Their words and deeds so many people did inspire

  They withstood many hurdles and storms;

  This friendly meet, chance has turned it into a picnic

   In happy bonding of their visits to various clinics.

 

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

 

   21 -07-2022                             Somaseshu Gutala

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Note on Whitman’s Poem “When Lilacs last…”

                       

                                

Abraham Lincoln's Tomb, Springfield, Illinois

                                            

Lilacs

This elegy to President Abraham Lincoln was written by Whitman in the summer of 1865 after president’s assassination on 14^th April, 1865. Whitman included this poem in his 1865 collection of “Drum-Taps”, a sequence of poems based on the experiences of his working as a nurse during the American Civil War. This is a long poem of 206 lines cast in pastoral elegy form. Whitman revised this poem many times from the time it was published. The final version was published in 1881 in “Leaves of Grass.”  This elegy is considered as one of the best elegies comparable with John Milton’s “Lycidas” (1637) and Shelley’s “Adonais” (1821).

 

This elegy is a first-person monologue with sixteen stanzas or strophes. The range of each stanza varies in length from five to fifty-three lines. The length of each line also varies from seven syllables to twenty syllables. It does not have consistent metrical pattern. He achieves a coherent structure and beauty through “the internal patterns of sound, diction, specific word choice and effect of association.” The use of literary devices like repetition, cataloguing, and parallelism, long flowing lines gives a pattern of unity and incantatory quality to this poem.

 According to Kathy Rugoff “the poem …has a broad scope and incorporates a strongly characterized speaker, a complex narrative action and an array of highly lyrical images.” According to another critic, Helen Vendler, the poem reaches its most lyrical pitch in 14^th strophe, reaches its moral climax in fifteenth and ends with a note of reconciliation in sixteenth strophe. This elegy does not mention Lincoln by name or the circumstances surrounding his death.

 

This is a pastoral elegy written in free verse. Whitman wrote two other elegies “O captain! My captain!” and “Hushed be the camps today”. But this elegy is grander and more touching than the other two elegies in structure and content. Though it does not follow the conventions strictly, it is considered as a pastoral elegy in which the deceased person and the poet are depicted as shepherds. In one sense Lincoln was the shepherd of the American people in wartime and his loss left the north in the position of a flock without a leader. As in traditional elegies, Nature mourns Lincoln’s death along with people.

 

 This poem also makes reference to the problems of modern times in its brief shadowy depictions of civil war. Though this is a public poem with private symbols, Whitman tried to determine the best way to mourn the loss of a great leader in the modern world. Unlike classical elegies this poem is simple and modern without too many allusions. Similarly, there is a shift in language. In the first few stanzas the language is formal, even archaic filled with exhortations and rhetorical devices. By the end, much of the ceremoniousness has been stripped away. Eventually the poet simply leaves behind a sprig of lilac and ceases from song with philosophical resignation.

 

 Though the form is elegiac, it also contains elements found in Operatic music. Nature’s mourning the death of a great leader is seen when Lincoln’s body was sent from Washington to Spring field. Not only men and women but natural objects salute the departed leader.

 This poem shows Whitman’s love Abraham Lincoln and his deep grief over the death of soldiers in American Civil War. The poet used three private or personal symbols with complex meanings to reveal his feelings and thoughts. Private symbols are those whose significance the writers generate for themselves. Whitman’s symbols are mostly private and personal. The lilac symbolizes reverence for the memory of Lincoln. Whitman’s symbols are unique which are meant for all people of all times and which evoke emotions and feelings for understanding the significance of his poetry.

 

The green heart-shaped green leaves reveal the unadulterated feelings which come out from the heart of man. The season of spring symbolizes recurrence of every existence after its temporary extinction. It indicates recurring memory of Lincoln and the immortality of the great soul. The Western Star, Venus, is a complex symbol which symbolizes a lofty leader, Lincoln. It also represents a heavenly body having a mystic relationship with terrestrial beings. The hermit-thrush is shy and withdrawn and pours out melodious songs from the recesses of the swamp.  The bird symbolizes the poet and the bird’s song tallies with the voice of the poet’s spirit.

 

The funeral procession of Lincoln’s corpse symbolizes a spiritual journey towards understanding death. It begins in sorrow and gloom and ends in joy and serenity of spirit and acceptance of death as the happy ending of life. Grass, a recurring symbol in Whitman’s poetry, symbolizes democracy and the miracle and mystery of the life and nature. The word “I” in Whitman’s poetry symbolizes the whole of humanity at large, human beings of all places and beings. This poem is published in the volume “Drum-taps”. The very title evokes the American war scene associated with the sounds of drums, bombs, clatter of weapons and bloodshed.

 

This elegy was divided into four cycles:  the first cycle contains first four stanzas. The second cycle has stanzas from fifth to ninth. The third cycle has stanzas from tenth to thirteenth. The fourth cycle has stanzas from fourteenth to sixteenth. 

The first section of the poem comprising four stanzas present the setting of the poem. As the spring returns the lilacs blossom and the planet Venus drooped in the western sky. The powerful Western Star was covered by black murk in the tearful night. The poet mourns “The loss of him I love.” He is powerless and helpless because the cloud around him “will not free my soul”. The poet breaks off a small branch of lilac bush with heart-shaped leaves. The solitary thrush like a secluded hermit sings a song of its inmost grief. It sings “death’s outlet song of life” The first section introduces three principal symbols of the poem-the lilac, the star and the bird. They are woven into a poetic and dramatic pattern. Lilacs are associated with recurring spring, a symbolic resurrection. Its heart-shaped leaves indicate love. The everblooming lilacs bring out the memories of Lincoln and the western star hidden in dark clouds portended some future tragic event and made the poet feel sad and helpless. The bird is the symbol of reconciliation with death and is its song is the soul’s voice. The bird’s tragic song of death,” the song of the bleeding throat” represents the poet’s own mourning of Lincoln’s death.  The phrase “Death’s outlet song of life” indicates that out of death will come renewed life. Lilac’s purple color is a symbol of crucifixion or sacrifice and violent ending of Lincoln’s life.

The second section from fifth to ninth stanzas describe the journey of Lincoln’s coffin through natural scenery and industrial cities representing the diverse facets of American life. The thrush’s song in section four is a prelude to the journey of the coffin which will “pass over the breast of the spring”, through wheat fields, orchards, woods and through cities. But “in the midst of life we are in death” as the Book of Common Prayer says. The cities are draped in black and the “crape-veiled women” mourn and salute the dead. Somber faces, solemn voices and mournful dirges and dim-lit churches with tolling bells mark the progress of the journey. The land seems dark and covered with dark clouds.

 The poet brings forth blossoms not for Lincoln alone but for all men who sacrificed their lives in the civil war. He chants a song “for you, O sane and sacred death” and offers flowers to “the coffins all of you, O death”. The poet addresses the star, “Now I know what you must have meant”. Whitman imagines that the star is full of woe until it vanished “in the netherward black of night.” The poet thinks that the dim western star foretold him about the impending death of Lincoln in advance as the star disappeared behind the dark enveloping cloud. The poet’s soul sank with grief on seeing the star.

Whitman calls upon bird to continue singing. The poet lingered on held by the evening star, “my departing comrade.” The star is identified with Lincoln and the poet is under the influence of his personal grief for his beloved dead leader and is not able to perceive the spiritual existence of Lincoln after death. The song of the thrush makes the poet aware of the deathless and spiritual existence of Lincoln.

In the third cycle of the poem from 10^th to 13^th stanzas, the poet wonders about how he shall sing “for the large sweet soul that has gone.” And how he shall compose his tribute” for the dead one I loved.” In a poetic way he says that the sea winds from East and West meeting on the prairies along with the poet’s song will “perfume the grave of him I love.”  Later he wishes to decorate the walls of Lincoln’s burial chamber with natural and diverse scenes of American landscape like pictures of growing spring, the sunset glories of April, the pale green leaves of the trees, fresh sweet grass, the flowing river with wind-swept waves, the distant hill ranges, and with city dense with dwellings and chimney stacks, busy workshops, and workmen returning home ward. The gentle purple morn with soft breeze, the summer afternoon and the star-lit night shining over cities reveal the pictures of the urban landscape.  In short “all the scenes of life.” The body and soul of America will be painted on the tomb such as the beauties of Manhattan spires as well as the shores of Ohio and Missouri rivers and “all the varied and ample land.” This shows Lincoln’s love for American landscape and American people. The poet admires the natural as well as the crowded urban landscape if America which made that country a democratic, prosperous and developed nation.

 Th gray brown bird is singing from the swamps its “loud human song of woe”. The song has a liberating effect on the poet’s soul although the star still holds him as does the mastering odor of the lilac. In this cycle the description of natural objects and phenomena indicates the breadth of Lincoln’s vision- the purple dawn, delicious eve, and welcome night- suggest the continuous cycle of the day which in turn symbolizes Lincoln’s immortality. The language is quite lyrical, poetic and emotional.

Stanzas from 14 to 16 comprise a re-instatement of the earlier themes and symbols of the poem in a perspective of immortality. The poet remembers how “a cloud with a long black trail” appeared one evening and suddenly made him aware of death. He walked between “the knowledge of death and the thought of death”. He listened to the bird’s song of “the carol of death” which praises Death as lovely, soothing and delicate. The fathomless universe is adored for “life and joy” and “sweet love”. Amidst this spectacle throbbing with life and joy he looks upon death as an integral part of creation. Death is described as a “dark mother” always gliding near with soft feet. To her the bird sings a song of “fullest welcome”. Death is a strong deliveress to whom “the body gratefully nestles”.

 

 The bird’s song is the spiritual ally of the poet. As the bird sings the poet sees a vision of the battle, corpses and “debris of all slain soldiers”. These dead soldiers are happy in their resting places but their parents and relatives continue to suffer because they have lost them. The suffering is not of the dead but of the living. The coffin has now reached the end of its journey. It passes the visions “the song of the hermit bird” and the “tallying song of the poet’s soul”. Death’s outlet song is heard sinking and yet bursting with joy. The joyful psalm fills the earth and heaven with joy. As the coffin passes the poet salutes it reminding himself that the lilac blooming in the dooryard will return every spring. The coffin has reached its resting place in “the fragrant pines and the cedars dark and dim”. The star, the bird and the lilac join with the poet as he bids good-bye to Lincoln, “his comrade, the dead I loved so well”. 

The poet’s realization of immortality of the soul through the emotional conflict of personal loss is the principal theme of this great poem, which is a symbolic dramatization of the poet’s grief and his ultimate reconciliation with the truths of life and death. It also deals with persistence of life in spite of pains and sufferings. The images of bustling cities such as “the sun”, “the stars” and “the hermit bird” remind us of life’s continuance. Just like in other elegies this ends with a sense of reconciliation and spiritual understanding of death as an integral part of life.

    8th July, 2022                                   Somaseshu Gutala