All you who sleep tonight-Vikram Seth (source)
All you who sleep tonight
Far from the ones you love,
No hand to left or right
And emptiness above -
Know that you aren't alone
The whole world shares your tears,
Some for two nights or one,
And some for all their years.
Showing posts with label Poems. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poems. Show all posts
Random 83
Invictus - William Ernest Henley
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
Random 75
(Source) Acham Illai- Subramania Bharathi
அச்ச்மில்லை யச்சமில்லை அச்ச்மனெப தில்லையே
இச்ச்கத்து ளோரெல்லாம் எதிர்த்துநின்ற பொதினும்
அச்ச்மில்லை யச்சமில்லை அச்ச்மனெப தில்லையே
துச்ச்மாக வெண்ணிநம்மை தூறுசெய்த பொதினும்
அச்ச்மில்லை யச்சமில்லை அச்ச்மனெப தில்லையே
பிச்சைவாங்கி உண்னும்வாழ்க்கை பெற்றுவிட்ட பொதினும்
அச்ச்மில்லை யச்சமில்லை அச்ச்மனெப தில்லையே
இச்சைகொண்ட பொருளெலாம் இழந்துவிட்ட பொதினும்
அச்ச்மில்லை யச்சமில்லை அச்ச்மனெப தில்லையே
கச்சணிந்த கொங்கைமாதர் கண்க்ள்வீசு போதினும்
அச்ச்மில்லை யச்சமில்லை அச்ச்மனெப தில்லையே
நச்சைவாயி லேகொண்ர்ந்து நண்பரூட்டு பொதினும்
அச்ச்மில்லை யச்சமில்லை அச்ச்மனெப தில்லையே
பச்சையூ னியைந்த்வேற் படைக்ள்வந்த பொதினும்
அச்ச்மில்லை யச்சமில்லை அச்ச்மனெப தில்லையே
உச்சிமீது வானிடிந்து வீழுகின்ற் பொதினும்
அச்ச்மில்லை யச்சமில்லை அச்ச்மனெப தில்லையே
Translation (from source):
Fear not my soul. Fear not
Fear not when the world unites against
Fear not the derisive stares and the looks cold
Fear not the vagrant’s life,
When you’ve lost everything you hold
Fear not my soul. Fear not
Fear not the seductress’s charms
Fear not the venom, nor the burning tongue
Fear not the enemy, taking up arms
Fear not my soul. Fear not.
When the world around you comes crashing down.
அச்ச்மில்லை யச்சமில்லை அச்ச்மனெப தில்லையே
இச்ச்கத்து ளோரெல்லாம் எதிர்த்துநின்ற பொதினும்
அச்ச்மில்லை யச்சமில்லை அச்ச்மனெப தில்லையே
துச்ச்மாக வெண்ணிநம்மை தூறுசெய்த பொதினும்
அச்ச்மில்லை யச்சமில்லை அச்ச்மனெப தில்லையே
பிச்சைவாங்கி உண்னும்வாழ்க்கை பெற்றுவிட்ட பொதினும்
அச்ச்மில்லை யச்சமில்லை அச்ச்மனெப தில்லையே
இச்சைகொண்ட பொருளெலாம் இழந்துவிட்ட பொதினும்
அச்ச்மில்லை யச்சமில்லை அச்ச்மனெப தில்லையே
கச்சணிந்த கொங்கைமாதர் கண்க்ள்வீசு போதினும்
அச்ச்மில்லை யச்சமில்லை அச்ச்மனெப தில்லையே
நச்சைவாயி லேகொண்ர்ந்து நண்பரூட்டு பொதினும்
அச்ச்மில்லை யச்சமில்லை அச்ச்மனெப தில்லையே
பச்சையூ னியைந்த்வேற் படைக்ள்வந்த பொதினும்
அச்ச்மில்லை யச்சமில்லை அச்ச்மனெப தில்லையே
உச்சிமீது வானிடிந்து வீழுகின்ற் பொதினும்
அச்ச்மில்லை யச்சமில்லை அச்ச்மனெப தில்லையே
Translation (from source):
Fear not my soul. Fear not
Fear not when the world unites against
Fear not the derisive stares and the looks cold
Fear not the vagrant’s life,
When you’ve lost everything you hold
Fear not my soul. Fear not
Fear not the seductress’s charms
Fear not the venom, nor the burning tongue
Fear not the enemy, taking up arms
Fear not my soul. Fear not.
When the world around you comes crashing down.
On Silence
Passages from "Stray Birds" by Rabindranath Tagore
(110)
MAN goes into the noisy crowd to drown his own clamour of silence.
(118)
DREAM is a wife who must talk.
Sleep is a husband who silently suffers.
(147)
THE dust of the dead words clings to thee.
Wash thy soul with silence.
(155)
SILENCE will carry your voice like the nest that holds the sleeping birds
(163)
"THE learned say that your lights will one day be no more." said the firefly to the stars.
The stars made no answer.
(176)
THE water in a vessel is sparkling; the water in the sea is dark.
The small truth has words that are clear; the great truth has great silence.
(182)
I AM like the road in the night listening to the footfalls of its memories in silence.
(208)
LET my doing nothing when I have nothing to do become untroubled in its depth of peace like the evening in the seashore when the water is silent.
(247)
"HOW may I sing to thee and worship, O Sun?" asked the little flower.
"By the simple silence of thy purity," answered the sun.
(251)
THE night's silence, like a deep lamp, is burning with the light of its milky way.
(273)
LET my thoughts come to you, when I am gone, like the afterglow of sunset at the margin of starry silence.
(298)
THE silent night has the beauty of the mother and the clamorous day of the child.
(305)
GOD's silence ripens man's thoughts into speech.
(12)
"WHAT language is thine, O sea?"
"The language of eternal question."
"What language is thy answer, O sky?
"The language of eternal silence."
"WHAT language is thine, O sea?"
"The language of eternal question."
"What language is thy answer, O sky?
"The language of eternal silence."
(37)
I CANNOT tell why this heart languishes in silence.
It is for small needs it never asks, or knows or remembers.
I CANNOT tell why this heart languishes in silence.
It is for small needs it never asks, or knows or remembers.
(42)
YOU smiled and talked to me of nothing and I felt that for this I had been waiting long.
YOU smiled and talked to me of nothing and I felt that for this I had been waiting long.
(43)
THE fish in the water is silent, the animal on the earth is noisy, the bird in the air is singing,
But Man has in him the silence of the sea, the noise of the earth and the music of the air.
THE fish in the water is silent, the animal on the earth is noisy, the bird in the air is singing,
But Man has in him the silence of the sea, the noise of the earth and the music of the air.
(110)
MAN goes into the noisy crowd to drown his own clamour of silence.
(118)
DREAM is a wife who must talk.
Sleep is a husband who silently suffers.
(147)
THE dust of the dead words clings to thee.
Wash thy soul with silence.
(155)
SILENCE will carry your voice like the nest that holds the sleeping birds
(163)
"THE learned say that your lights will one day be no more." said the firefly to the stars.
The stars made no answer.
(176)
THE water in a vessel is sparkling; the water in the sea is dark.
The small truth has words that are clear; the great truth has great silence.
(182)
I AM like the road in the night listening to the footfalls of its memories in silence.
(208)
LET my doing nothing when I have nothing to do become untroubled in its depth of peace like the evening in the seashore when the water is silent.
(239)
THE dim silence of my mind seems filled with crickets' chirp--the grey twilight of sound.
THE dim silence of my mind seems filled with crickets' chirp--the grey twilight of sound.
(247)
"HOW may I sing to thee and worship, O Sun?" asked the little flower.
"By the simple silence of thy purity," answered the sun.
(251)
THE night's silence, like a deep lamp, is burning with the light of its milky way.
(273)
LET my thoughts come to you, when I am gone, like the afterglow of sunset at the margin of starry silence.
(298)
THE silent night has the beauty of the mother and the clamorous day of the child.
(305)
GOD's silence ripens man's thoughts into speech.
Random 69
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
(Passage from "If" by Rudyard Kipling)
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
(Passage from "If" by Rudyard Kipling)
Random 67
The Road Goes Ever On
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.
- J.R.R. Tolkien (source)
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.
- J.R.R. Tolkien (source)
Random 63
Once More, the Round -Theodore Roethke
What's greater, Pebble or Pond?
What can be known? The Unknown.
My true self runs toward a Hill
More! O More! visible.
Now I adore my life
With the Bird, the abiding Leaf,
With the Fish, the questing Snail,
And the Eye altering All;
And I dance with William Blake
For love, for Love's sake;
And everything comes to One,
As we dance on, dance on, dance on.
(sources: 1, 2)
(p.s. Do read Steve's post on running in 2 )
What's greater, Pebble or Pond?
What can be known? The Unknown.
My true self runs toward a Hill
More! O More! visible.
Now I adore my life
With the Bird, the abiding Leaf,
With the Fish, the questing Snail,
And the Eye altering All;
And I dance with William Blake
For love, for Love's sake;
And everything comes to One,
As we dance on, dance on, dance on.
(sources: 1, 2)
(p.s. Do read Steve's post on running in 2 )
Log-1
I haven't been really running or training much over the past year since the RR 100, though the list of races on the left bar might tell a different story. Not to brag, but all the races I ran last year...I just showed up and ran the race...treating each race as the training run for the next one with some minor runs between each....so it was just plain ol' dumb luck that I finished all of them and didn't end up with some serious injury.
Now that I'm on a self-enforced sabbatical from training for any races in the foreseeable future (a long story for another time), I decided that I need to keep doing some short runs every now and then and try to build up some sort of a regular running schedule just to keep myself sane. So on a lark, just laced up my battered old shoes (they would cry out for mercy if they could...they are/were my first ever pair of running shoes...I have put so many hundreds of miles on them literally...and I can also see all the running geeks with their mouths agape in horror that I risk running in such shoes) and decided to head out on a short (read single-digit miles) run this evening.
Now that I'm on a self-enforced sabbatical from training for any races in the foreseeable future (a long story for another time), I decided that I need to keep doing some short runs every now and then and try to build up some sort of a regular running schedule just to keep myself sane. So on a lark, just laced up my battered old shoes (they would cry out for mercy if they could...they are/were my first ever pair of running shoes...I have put so many hundreds of miles on them literally...and I can also see all the running geeks with their mouths agape in horror that I risk running in such shoes) and decided to head out on a short (read single-digit miles) run this evening.
It was an amazing run by my standards, to say the least, even though it was slightly warm (lower 80sF) and extremely windy. And hence good reason for my first blog post about my own running :). For those of you who know my running style, I am not a fast runner but today I was just flying. Never before I think, have I covered 5 miles with such drastic elevation changes in such a short time (52 mins to be precise). And to top it off, I was feeling really happy at the end of it (have had a similar feeling only a few times in all these years of running). To me, this was like winning some major race. (Boston here I come...if only..sigh). By the end of the run I had a wide, silly grin plastered on my face, my hair all disheveled by the wind...no wonder I was getting some weird looks from people on the street, but I didn't care. All I could think of was how carefree and peaceful I felt during those moments my feet were pounding the asphalt. My favorite running haiku (source) kept playing in my head (to complete the picture of craziness...yes...I hear voices in my head... :P) and I couldn't help but marvel at how apt it was for how I felt.
I run, I escape
The crazy world fades away
My pace is my peace
The crazy world fades away
My pace is my peace
I think I am beginning to enjoy this "not training" phase but I just hope I can keep this momentum going and keep getting my running fix regularly.
Disclaimer: Yes, this was a ROAD run. I do plan to explore some local trails in the coming weeks/months to avoid my transmogrification into a complete roadie :P.
Random 62
And the days are not full enough
And the days are not full enough
And the nights are not full enough
And life slips by like a field mouse
Not shaking the grass
- Ezra Pound
And the days are not full enough
And the nights are not full enough
And life slips by like a field mouse
Not shaking the grass
- Ezra Pound
The Wind
The bay is thick with flecks of white.
The freezing air is honed and thined.
The gulls sleep on the stones tonight,
Wings locked against the prising wind.
With no companion to my mood,
Against the wind as it should be,
I walk, but in my solitude
Bow to the wind that buffets me.
-Vikram Seth
The freezing air is honed and thined.
The gulls sleep on the stones tonight,
Wings locked against the prising wind.
With no companion to my mood,
Against the wind as it should be,
I walk, but in my solitude
Bow to the wind that buffets me.
-Vikram Seth
Cat
The fat cat on the mat-J.R.R.T
may seem to dream
of nice mice that suffice
for him, or cream;
but he free, maybe,
walks in thought
unbowed, proud, where loud
roared and fought
his kin, lean and slim,
or deep in den
in the East feasted on beasts
and tender men.
The giant lion with iron
claw in paw,
and huge ruthless tooth
in gory jaw;
the pard dark-starred,
fleet upon feet,
that oft soft from aloft
leaps upon his meat
where woods loom in gloom --
far now they be,
fierce and free,
and tamed is he;
but fat cat on the mat
kept as a pet
he does not forget.
As far as allegories go, this is as good as it gets. From THE Master himself, no less. Now all I need to do is get off the mat :)
The moving finger writes
A rubai by Omar Khayyam (source)......a lesson here?
The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it
On Existence
Simple....yet quite profound, from Tagore's Geetanjali (source)
The first day's sun
questioned
the new appearance of being –
Who are you?
There was no answer.
Years went by.
Day's last sun
asked the last question from the shores of the west
in the soundless evening –
Who are you?
There was no answer.
On Freedom
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
-Tagore in Geetanjali
Happy Independence Day!
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
-Tagore in Geetanjali
Happy Independence Day!
Doosra Banvaas
Ram banvaas se laut ke jab ghar mein aaye
Yaad jungle bahut aaya jo nagar mein aaye
Raks-e-deewangi aangan mein jo dekha hoga
6 Desambar ko Shri Raam ne socha hoga
Itne deewane kahan se mere ghar mein aaye
Jugmagaate the jahan Raam ke kadmo ke nishan
Pyar ki kahkashaan leti thi angdaayi jahan
Mod nafrat ke usi rahguzar mein aaye
Dharam kya unka hain, kya jaat hain yeh jaanta kaun
Ghar na jalta to unhe raat mein pehchanta kaun
Ghar jalane ko mera, log jo mere ghar mein aaye
Shakahari hain mere dost tumhare khanjar
Tumne Babar ki taraf pheke the saare pathar
Hain mere sar ke khazaar zakhm jo sar mein aaye
Paun Sarjoo mein abhi Raam ne dhoye bhi na the
Ki nazar aaye wahan khoon ke gehre dhabbe
Paun dhoye bina Sarjoo ke kinare se uthe
Raam yeh kehte hue apne dwaare se uthey
Raajdhani ki khiza aayi nahi raas mujhey
6 Desambar ko mila doosra banvaas mujhey.
~Kaifi Azmi(19?? -2002) (source)
Yaad jungle bahut aaya jo nagar mein aaye
Raks-e-deewangi aangan mein jo dekha hoga
6 Desambar ko Shri Raam ne socha hoga
Itne deewane kahan se mere ghar mein aaye
Jugmagaate the jahan Raam ke kadmo ke nishan
Pyar ki kahkashaan leti thi angdaayi jahan
Mod nafrat ke usi rahguzar mein aaye
Dharam kya unka hain, kya jaat hain yeh jaanta kaun
Ghar na jalta to unhe raat mein pehchanta kaun
Ghar jalane ko mera, log jo mere ghar mein aaye
Shakahari hain mere dost tumhare khanjar
Tumne Babar ki taraf pheke the saare pathar
Hain mere sar ke khazaar zakhm jo sar mein aaye
Paun Sarjoo mein abhi Raam ne dhoye bhi na the
Ki nazar aaye wahan khoon ke gehre dhabbe
Paun dhoye bina Sarjoo ke kinare se uthe
Raam yeh kehte hue apne dwaare se uthey
Raajdhani ki khiza aayi nahi raas mujhey
6 Desambar ko mila doosra banvaas mujhey.
~Kaifi Azmi(19?? -2002) (source)
When will they ever learn?
Apparently there are plans afoot to use Pakistan's tribes in the wot.......if recent history is any indication, nothing good can come out of this.
Where have all the soldiers gone? Long time passing- Pete Seeger
Where have all the soldiers gone? Long time ago
Where have all the soldiers gone? Gone to graveyards every one
When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?
Where have all the graveyards gone? Long time passing.
Where have all the graveyards gone? Long time ago.
Where have all the graveyards gone? They're covered with flowers, every one.
Oh, when will they ever learn? Oh, when will they ever learn?
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