Category: Poetry

Poems about nature and human nature.

Bharathiyar poem translation, Poetry

Bharathiyar Song – Kannamma – My Sweetheart – 1

Kathakali Dancers
Image by Shelly Paul – Kathakali Dancers
Visual Amazement
 
Piercing, brilliant eyes – Kannama,
Are they sun or moon?
Round black eyes – Kannama,
Are they the blackness of the sky?
Like the black-blue saree of silk,
Studded with diamonds;
Are the stars that manifest,
In the middle of the night!

Garden flower’s splendor - 
Is that your splendid smile?
The blue waves of the sea – 
Are the waves in your heart!1
Graceful cuckoo’s song – 
The sweetness of your voice!
Tender maiden – Kannamma,
Embracing love, I feel.
Continue reading “Bharathiyar Song – Kannamma – My Sweetheart – 1” →
Bharathiyar poem translation, Poetry

Bharathiyar Poem – Ammakannu Song

Ammakannu Song1

Lock is opened by hand – good
Mind is opened by intellect
Song is opened by melody – joyful
Home is opened by a woman(wife).

Plantain leaf2 is wiped clean by hand – mind’s
Home is wiped clean by truth
Hunting is done by arrow – love’s
Fortress is won by words.

Breath is fastened by mind – the 
Body is protected by this deed,
Rice is consumed by mouth – heart’s
Courage is consumed from mother.
Continue reading “Bharathiyar Poem – Ammakannu Song” →
Poetry

When I like what I like…

Character Soliloquy¹ — Social Media

An aging dandelion with white tufts, ready to be blown away, in blurry green background with, blurred leaves.
Image by Shelly Paul

I like what I like and I don’t have to like anything else,
Dictate the designers of social media.

If I like only what I like and if I don’t have to like anything else,
Then I don’t have to know anything else that I don’t like.

If I don’t have to know anything I don’t like,
Then what does truth or reality matter?

Continue reading “When I like what I like…” →

Poetry

Naragasuran’s Last Wish

Diwali Story

Photo by Sandeep Kr Yadav on Unsplash

As he lay there dying,
He came to his senses,
Realizing the horror he had become,

Asked of a boon that was noble:
‘Do not mourn my death, but celebrate a festival,
Let people wear their finest and exchange sweets,
Let there be rows of light and sparklers;

Continue reading “Naragasuran’s Last Wish” →

Poetry

The Bird with A View

Regan airport
Faster, faster, spun the wheels
Louder, louder, roared the engines
Up, up, flew the bird
As the ground fell away,
Wheels tucked away.
Higher, higher, rose the machine
Into the cloud tufts floating,
Casting moving shadows
Over the Earth,
Segmented and unsegmented by civilization.
Continue reading “The Bird with A View” →
Poetry

Separation

You stepped into eternity
Left me in time’s purgatory
I tore up my past –
It was tangled with memories of you
Future petrifies me because of the void you left within
A thousand abysmal days have trudged by,
Tell me my son,
What should I do with my time? Continue reading “Separation” →

Poetry

Comfortable Silence

Where human bonds run so deep,
To have withstood the test of attrition – time and time again;

That discord and harmony could co-exist peacefully,
When substantive conversations dissolve pretense and insecurity,
That neither has the need to coddle the other emotionally,
Where one is at ease with the other as with oneself –

Is when, the uttered word becomes redundant
And shared silence becomes comfortable.

Related Posts: Ramblings on a word – Fantastic,   Joy Ride

Poetry

Freedom and Joy

Do what makes your soul shine
Image by Shelly Paul

Through the labyrinths of a rigid society,
Gropes for freedom –
A shackled mind.

Probing the myriad depths of the universe
Is an unfeeling heart –
In a quest for joy.

Alas! we know not
To search within ourselves.

To look at the rendition of life,
Not heed the blemish,
But to rejoice in its blessings, is mirth itself.

To unshackle the mind from prejudice and bias,
Rise above narrow divisions,
Is what freedom is all about.

Poetry

Weary Traveler

Welcome home, weary traveler

Unburden yourself;
Lay down the heavy trappings,
Wash off the weariness.

For you have given too much;
Entrenched in the lives of strangers
Trying to ease their drudgery
With your benevolence.

So,
Ensconce in the warmth of your abode,
Take comfort from the cocoon of sleep,
Rejuvenate as you breathe the first crisp air of autumn.

Related Posts

Sea Legs                             The Bird with A View                      A Day at the Beach

Poetry

Kindness

I was groping in darkness,
Stumbling over my loneliness
When all of you lit,
Countless candles for me

The wax has melted,
The light has faded,
Yet, the dying gleam
And the smoky fragrance lingers on,
Softening the gloom.