Tag Archives: poetry

Poetry Corner: The Garden of the Prophet

Trees
© 2017 Pippa Virdee

Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of religion.

Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave, eats a bread it does not harvest, and drinks a wine that flows not from its own wine-press.

Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero, and that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful.

Pity the nation that despises a passion in its dream, yet submits in its awakening.

Pity the nation that raises not its voice save when it walks in a funeral, boasts not except among its ruins, and will rebel not save when its neck is laid between the sword and the block.

Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox, whose philosopher is a juggler, and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking.

Pity the nation that welcomes it new ruler with trumpetings, and farewells with him with hootings, only to welcome another with trumpetings again.

Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with years and whose strong men are yet in the cradle.

Pity the nation divided into fragments, each fragment deeming itself a nation.

Kahlil Gibran
The Garden of the Prophet
(London, Heinemann, 1934)

Wilting blooms

My Bagichablog would be incomplete without the abundance of blooms this year.

 

That distant peck on the lips. Which takes me away from you

That growing tide between us. When will it settle to reveal us?

That lost dream of love. Will it ever be retrieved?

That pinning of warmth. When will the sun rise again?

That distant peck on the lips. How I wish it was closer.

By Anonymous.

Poetry Corner: Benign and Humble

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I shared this picture yesterday with friends and I got this beautiful poetry in return:

I know, you are silent sage tree, more than a human being.

I know your are, like Buddha, meditating while planting your self in freezing snowy mountains.

I salute to your benign and humble posture.

I recognise the ‘firm’ within your green leaves, though you appear to be in a tilted posture.

This is your humility, for you are laden with love and humanity.

Thank you Prof Iswhar Dayal Gaur for writing this.

Poetry Corner: Laeeq Babree

© 2017 Pippa Virdeeat every step

she is stricken with anguish and suffering

with the solitude of the victim

weeping and sobbing

she returns to her den

to say farewell

to trees and flowers

to say farewell

to the deep, slow moving river of solitude

to say farewell

to the fast fading shadows

of the helpless wilderness !

Translation of poetry from Harjeet Singh Gill, Sufi Rhythms. Interpreted in free verse (Patiala: Punjabi University, 2007), p 153.

Read about Laeeq Babree: https://www.dawn.com/news/112054

Poetry Corner: Sultan Bahu

© 2017 Pippa Virdeewithin and without

in and out

there is resonance of my Love

there are beats of His rhythm

in union there is light

in separation there is darkness

Bahu is the slave in the two worlds

who serves his Master in every breath

in every movement of his heart and hearth !

 

Translation of poetry from: Harjeet Singh Gill, Sufi Rhythms. Interpreted in free verse (Patiala: Punjabi University, 2007), p.75.

Read more about Sultan Bahu: https://sufipoetry.wordpress.com/poets/sultan-bahu/

Happiness is…

petals wazir khanSo the World Happiness Report is out in which our social progress and levels of happiness can apparently be measured. In June 2016 the OECD made a commitment to “to redefine the growth narrative to put people’s well-being at the centre of governments’ efforts”. Happiness is can therefore be a part of our policy making as we develop and progress further as nations.

Levels of happiness can be determined by many personal factors, as well as social, economic and wealth. Interestingly, China which has experienced enormous growth, is no happier than 25 years ago (positioned 79 on the ranking table). As the list below indicates, India which has also experienced high growths in recent years is not the happiest country in the region. The South Asian perspective throws up some interesting rankings, especially Pakistan. So what makes us happy? Do share your thoughts.

37 Nepal

80 Pakistan

97 Bhutan

110 Bangladesh

120 Sri Lanka

122 India

141 Afghanistan

Read the full report: http://worldhappiness.report/ed/2017/

On a personal note and what made me think about happiness today, a serendipitous recommendation on YouTube which led me to Bhai Gopal Singh. It immediately took me back to my childhood of growing up in Nakuru, Kenya. His shabads were often played on the small cassette player, placed on top of the fridge. It would permeate the bungalow in the mornings and had left endearing and happy memories of childhood. Listening to his voice, immediately takes me back to those moments and so happiness can be captured in those precious memories. Content for time being.

Listen to Bhai Gopal Singh

Poetry Corner: Serendipity

kerala boat
(c) Copyright 2016 Pippa Virdee. Boat trip in the backwaters of Kerala.

The Cloths of Heaven
Had I the heaven’s embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light;
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
By W. B. Yeats

Poetry Corner: Transience

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Transience by Sarojini Naidu and a glimpse of the moon to compliment her words.

Nay, do not grieve tho’ life be full of sadness,
Dawn will not veil her splendour for your grief,
Nor spring deny their bright, appointed beauty
To lotus blossom and ashoka leaf.

Nay, do not pine, tho’ life be dark with trouble,
Time will not pause or tarry on his way;
To-day that seems so long, so strange, so bitter,
Will soon be some forgotten yesterday.

Nay, do not weep; new hopes, new dreams, new faces,
The unspent joy of all the unborn years,
Will prove your heart a traitor to its sorrow,
And make your eyes unfaithful to their tears.