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.

 

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   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

A Note on Whitman’s poem “Passage to India”

 

                    

                                  

  

Whitman wrote this poem in 1871 and was included in the collection “Leaves of Grass” of 1871, 1872 and 1876 editions and after some revision in 1881 edition. Like John Masefield’s poem “Sea-Fever” and Whitman’s “Song of the open road”, this poem is about a journey to an undefined destination. In “Questions of Travel” (1965), Elizabeth Bishop argues with herself about the pros and cons of travelling.

 In this poem the poet commemorates the modern scientific marvels that enabled mankind to communicate and travel without any difficulty. In 1869 the laying of the American Transcontinental Railroad connected the country from East to West.  Six months later the Suez Canal was opened to join the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea to facilitate transportation and trade between Europe and Asia without navigating around Africa.  Whitman saw the opening of the Suez Canal as both a reason for celebrating and also as an opportunity to connect with spiritual traditions of the faraway lands.  This poem was divided into nine sections of varying lengths. The poet celebrates the scientific achievements that made the Canal possible and also the esoteric wisdom that could imagine such possibilities and the new era of worldliness and peace that might come of it.  Inspired by this poem E.M.Forster wrote his novel “A Passage to India” in 1924.

This poem describes an imaginary journey that the speaker wants to take into fabled India. This poem begins with the description of the new marvels of the modern world- the Suez Canal and the great American Railway and Transatlantic cable. He looks upon India as a mysterious and fabled place that rejuvenates his soul. He will return to the birthplace of mankind and feel renewed for the rest of his life. Whitman celebrates the scientific achievements that made the Suez Canal possible and the new era of worldliness and peace that might come of it. He attributes the canal to both science (proud truths of the world) and myth (fables of the old). Though it is a feat of engineering, it is also a triumph of the human imagination. The facts of modern science are not enough to explain the project’s completion. He expresses admiration for both “proud truths of science” and “fables of the eld” and “far darting beams of the spirit”, “deep diving bibles and legends” and “the daring plots of the poets.” He extends praise to Eastern and African Bibles, religious places and temples as much as the Western ones. In his view every perspective is worth celebrating and he wishes to convey a sense of inclusiveness everywhere.

 

To him India is a metaphor for the larger possibilities that opens up humanity to expand and explore the mysteries of divinity and Nature. He is interested in the future as well as in the past. He also speaks about the value of myths and fables which are as important as science. He thinks that modern inventions and technology will help in bringing mankind together and foster a sense of brotherhood and unity. There will be a unity between nature and man. There has to be “a marriage of continents, climates and oceans.”

 

The passage to India is not an easy one. Many have died on the way. But it will not deter him from undertaking the voyage. The pull of exploration is like a current running through human race and he is a part of it and he wants to feel connectivity of the earth. The speaker also takes time to mourn the death of the downfall of men like Columbus who ended their lives unhappily. He imagines that he is on this important journey with his soul and the two of them are circumnavigating the earth together. While the voyage might seem to be terrifying, he is protected by God.

 

 In the first section the poet highlights the achievements of the present time. At the same time, he admires the myths and fables and the daring plots of the ancient poets. “For what is the present after all but a growth out of the past?”

In the second section the poet celebrates the past. It is described as the teeming gulf and the infinite greatness. The poet praises the ancient fables, the daring plots of the poets, myths, temples and dazzling towers burnished with gold. Behind these present and past wonders, the poet sees God’s purpose in bringing together different races together.  The poet praises the engineers, architects and voyagers who made these technological marvels a reality. He worships them for their works and for the way in which they have helped to complete God’s plan. 

 

In the third section he describes the activities and technological exploration in digging the Suez Canal, launching of steam ships, dredging machines and laying of Transcontinental Rail Road in connecting “the Eastern to the Western Sea” and “the road between Europe and Asia”. The oceans are meant to be crossed and the distant lands to be brought nearer. He describes the opening of the Suez Canal and the Pacific Road (which joins Union Pacific and Central Pacific Rail Road) and the Transatlantic Cable which connects various countries for transportation and communication. In this context, he remembers the tragic death of Columbus, the sailor from Geneva, who dreamt of exploring new lands. The falsehoods talked about him by others led to his poverty, dejection and death.

 In the fourth section he describes the journey on the Suez Canal on a steamship. From deck he can see Egypt and the workmen who are still building the gigantic machines that were used to dredge the canal. In another tableau he describes the Pacific Railroad and the locomotives crossing the deserts, meadows, plains and farms and mountains in the distance.  He remembers the valiant adventures of voyagers like Vasco De Gama who discovered new lands and gave knowledge about those new territories. He praises him as the rondure (star) of the world who accomplished a noble purpose. He wants all types of people to intermingle, marry and become neighbours.

In the fifth section the speaker tells exploration runs like a rivulet through time. It sinks and rises but it is always there. Knowledge will be gained, new lands found and new nations born as America was. He praises scientists, inventors, explorer and poets who tried to satisfy the human thirst for knowledge and justify the divine purpose of bringing people together. “Nature and man shall be disjoined and diffused no more”/ “The true son of God shall absolutely fuse them.”

 In the sixth section he elaborates his imaginary journey through world from Europe to Asia and Africa”. “Year of the purpose accomplished/ Year of the marriage of continents and oceans”. He refers to the digging of the Suez Canal (1869) and laying of Transatlantic Undersea Cable (1866) and construction of Transcontinental Railway Line(1869) which changed the means of communication and transport. He refers to ancient civilizations of Egypt, Babylonia, Persia, China and India and exploits of ancient historical leaders like Alexander, Tamerlane, Aurangzeb and travellers like Marco Polo and Columbus. The poet sees the East as a return to “the soothing cradle of man” where everything began. There are doubts to be solved and blanks to be filled and men will never rest.

 

 In the seventh section he addresses his soul to prepare for exploring the East, the land of wisdom’s. In the seventh section he is hoping to see not only lands but also a clear freshness of mind. He wants to mellow his young mind with “the realms of budding bibles”. It is a voyage of the mind seeking to return where it came from” back to wisdom’s birth.” 

 In the eighth section he reiterates his wish to sail on “trackless seas” where he and others can sing of their “song of God.” While travelling the sailors will laugh and kiss while others left on the shore will be stuck in “sin, remorse and humiliation.” Exploration is ingrained in humankind. He addresses the nations who lost that zest for exploration. He calls them “sad shades”. “The sunset of splendour of chivalry declining”.

 During his voyage he will gain wisdom and pleasure from his soul and contemplate on “Time, space and death.” His spirit will search for God (the Comrade perfect who is the motive of this whole universe and vast space. He identifies his soul greater than stars and suns and encourages his soul to cross the unknown seas and melt in the arms of the Elder Brother (God) with love and friendship. His spirit will be bathed in God and his soul will be lifted to God-like proportions. He imagines a time in the future that after his travels, he will be able to help others. He will be filled with friendship like an elder brother. that after his travels.

 

 In the ninth section he questions his readiness to undertake such a voyage. He is pining for the danger that awaits on new lands and on waters in which many were unable to pass. He reiterates the emotional and spiritual reasons for his travelling to India. It is a passage to more than India. He wishes to explore the mysteries of unknown lands, seas, creeks, rivers, woods and mountains, stars, sun and moon. He has stood long enough like a tree in a static state. He is too much engaged in earthly activities. “Have we not grovelled here long enough, eating and drinking like mere brutes?” It is time to forget about the books and to sail forth. Like the explorers of the olden times, he is bound for places that have never been visited. No matter how far they go, the voyage will be safe as it is conducted on the seas of God.

 

 Thus, Whitman here blends transcendentalism with realistic elements. His journey is not mere a physical journey. It is a symbolic spiritual journey to India which represents esoteric knowledge, mythical fables, and philosophical lore that helps in bringing mankind together. He also appreciates the advancement in technology which serves the same purpose for bringing unity and brotherhood.

 

In this poem Whitman used long rhythmic, unmetered and unrhymed lines with the cadence of natural speech. It is communicated with loftiness and reverence. Each line ends with an exclamation mark to build up excitement and to express joy. He used repetition for emphasis. Just as the Suez Canal links the distant parts of the world, Whitman’s poem links religions and modern technology and engineering. In doing so he encourages us to see a bright future for mankind. He uses diction which includes foreign words and archaic vocabulary here and there to indicate that he transcends the barriers of time and space. “O vast Rondure, swimming in space.” (Rondure means spherical or round in shape). “But myths and tables of eld, Asia’s and Africa’s fables” (Eld, an archaism for old). “Eclaircise the myths Asiatic, the primitive fables”. (Eclaircise means reveal obscure facts).

 According to David Reynolds, “Passage to India” can be seen as a questioning of the materialistic values of the gilded age. Whitman in his later poems extolled the virtues of industry and workforce though he was not entirely comfortable with America’s growing materialism. According to Stanley Coffman, Whitman uses the images of passage to connect the past with the present, the present with the future and project a metamorphosis from earthly experience to that of spiritual level. Betsey Erkkila sees the repudiation of materialistic values and an aspiring towards spiritual transcendence. According to her Whitman found his ideal merger of the explorer of the physical world and the religious prophet in the figure of Columbus. “The poet becomes the spiritual heir of Columbus. As the poet-explorer, he could praise both individualism and national unity.”

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          22nd June, 2022                        Somaseshu Gutala

   

 

 

 

                   

 

IN BETWEEN

                  

                               

1.         Thy ways so strange and weird seem

      You lift our souls to jump with joy to scream;

      You hurl us down to depths of gloom and despair

      Why so sudden change? Is it fair?

      A mixed web of pleasure and pain

      A gift of beneficence or disdain?

 

2.         You give us a taste of heavenly bliss

      In warmth of mother’s closest kiss;

      You give us sportive mirth and merry play

      With friendly company jovial and gay;

      A phase of golden years with no burdens and load

      Childhood, a smooth and care-free road.

 

3.         You fired our fancy to unreachable heights

     You plan our path so rough and not so straight;

     So many hurdles test our struggling mind

     So many challenges, our goal too hard to find;

     Very few lucky ones their goals attain

     Others retreat wounded, deep-struck with pain.

 

4.         Our fancy runs riot beyond our reason’s range

     Our vision seems blurred, vague and strange;

     We chase shadows hare-brained with foolish grit

     Till we lose their grip and concede defeat;

     A waste of time and resources, a thing of past;

     Our dreams melt down in factual day at last.

 

5.         Our burdens increase with growing age

     Our ways appear like labyrinthine maze;

     Our youthful dreams, like stars beyond our hold

     Our inner drive slows down as we turn old.

     Why such regressive dissolution?

     Is there no ultimate solution?

 

6.        A series of sharp and uneven ups and downs

    We swell with joy on crests of success to drown

    Into dark depths, a sudden reversal of fate;

    Till yesteryears so great, now destitute, a spate

    Of hurdles to test and crush our pride;

    We feel rebuffed by Time’s unexpected stride.

 

7.        We swing between extremes of ice and fire

     No time to acclimatize to realms so dire

     Like Lucifer in livid burning spires;

     We are thrown into realms with frozen desires;

     What do we gain from these swift changes in life?

     What do we lose from this uncertain strife?

 

8.         How odd and incomprehensible display!

     Sages ascribe this to Thy sportive play;

     So many tender blooms cut off in prime

     While suffering lives survive beyond their time;

     For these worldly tensions where is the end?

     You seem to exult in unforeseen turns and bends. 

 

9.         Injustice seems to flourish day by day

         While honesty beggared collapses on the way;

     While corruption rules free and total power wields

     Transgressing rules forcing common people to yield

     Why this discrimination and why so mute?

     Can’t Time punish these inhuman brutes?

 

10.     Our sense-bound reason can’t unfold Thy maze;

     Time’s mysterious ways beyond our gaze;

     Our faltering steps guided by forces unseen

     To burn our passions and make our minds serene;

      Meanwhile we pray to Thee to purify our minds;

      Let us not lose our faith, Master Gracious and Kind!

 

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     10th June, 2022                     Somaseshu Gutala

     

 

 

        

 

      

 

 

  

 

            

     

WHAT IS YOURS?

                                

 

              

 1.    What is yours now belonged to others

         And what is yours now will go to somebody else;

         None can see destiny’s pulse

         And what happens to you, who bothers?

         Our lives insignificant specks in endless tide

         Of time which batters our ego and pride.

 

2.      The tender bloom of childhood which you had

          Melted like dew with growing years;

          No more can you feel those innocent smiles and tears;

          You lost those realms of golden fantasies so glad

          What an unbridgeable gap between you and that child!

          Your mind, no more like blossoms fresh and wild.

 

3.       Through turbulent youth a few blunders you made

           Thy age, an excuse to act with renewed delight;

           None blamed thy negligence and none did slight;

           Like happy dreams of night, they slip away and fade;

           Those lovely forgiving intimate ties

           You can’t find now and Time so quickly flies.

 

4.     You flaunted your vigour in reckless youth

        You rambled free gloating on luxuries full;

        You yielded thoughtless to temptations’ pull;

        You spared no time to think of vital truths;

        You cared little about consequences in store

        In worldly joys you sank down more and more.

 

5.    As family burdens with age did bend you down

       Your cuckoo dreams swept off like dust

       In gust of worldly ways and passion’s thirst;

       Must yield to burdens you have to bear

       The thrust of your deeds with others you cannot share.

 

6.   As old age looms, your strength slowly wanes

       You have to pay for your wayward ways past;

       Your youth and beauty have to yield at any cost;

       Your status and power cannot retard or restrain

       No more can you indulge in pleasures vain

       You spend a lot on medical bills, but can’t complain. 

 

7.   Your splendour, glory, wealth and power

       Vanish in a flash just like a dream

       No more can you wield authority supreme;

      Your bonds of which you boast tumble like a tower;

      The cloud of uncertainty hangs before

      The effects of change you can resist no more.

 

8.   Just like leaves in winter turn sick-pale and fade

      Old age weakens our limbs and brain as well;

      A gradual change and how it happens none can foretell

      Our worldly possessions, mere dancing shades;

      So many unforeseen complaints attack our health

      Our past vicious habits, like thieves, impact in stealth.

 

9.   Our closest kin depart to leave mere memories past

      Our dearest bonds will not forever last;

      Even our dearest children have to live apart

      To shoulder their own tasks at any cost;

      What happens to your family’s privilege and pride

      When they act free and not by rules abide? 

 

10.  In tide of time of what you assume as yours

       Turns weak, wrinkled and not so well it seems;

       Irreversible change you cannot redeem;

       Your body loses its vital force and living powers;

       What you assume as yours-nothing remains at last

       Your power and wealth all gone; tell me, what is yours?

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

         31st May, 2022                     Somaseshu Gutala