"Beauty is truth,
truth beauty,
that is all Ye know on Earth,
that is all Ye need to know..." - John Keats


Thursday 11 November 2010

A Contemplative Verse

It was all said in a moment...
That glare of exchange,
that contemplating thought…
Beauty of those keys went in,
With one moment ever lived more than the last…
I wonder, as this music wafts its flavour,
To the taste buds of my ears,
who upon noticing the divine beckoning,
extend their interest in this versified setting…
Contemplating, am I, this silence,
Wherein, a space has been vacated,
And yes, vacated with a single purpose of being filled…
The piano, yes, it is flowing,
Its music is ceasing not,
Naught, considering my own foolishness,
I see it brought out of the womb of Mother Earth,
This beautiful creation of Nature...
Contemplating in these vacant places, am I,
Three beats, and a note…
Three notes, and a beat…
Three hundred days, have unknowingly been spent
by this unsuspecting beast…
The junipers or those conifers,
The foxes or these snails,
Slow and fast, of these merry woods, have grown
And are now gone, but amongst those trees,
The stone walls of forgotten city, decaying,
Has that moist Lichen, slowly crawling,
Even in the absence of such a beauty
as human intelligence,
The papyrus existed without these papers..
Thoughts, aye, my very own,
Of merriment, sitting on that log of my dreams,
Listening to this piano, brings me that merriment,
Merriment that the fox found
trotting amidst the silent snows…
I lay, mute, I am the silent owl,
In a hollow of a green stump,
Ancient, but giving cottage to rising
mosses of the spirited green…

Tinkle of these high key notes,
And now I drift to those walks,
Amidst the woods, of convenient verses,
Amidst the rivers of free words,
That my common friend could contemplate,
As I and he, that friend of me, travelled,
Not very far from here,
But under the canopy of such an exquisite avenue,
That the very earth seemed draped in the yellow
Leafy dress, woven by those very trees…
Moist soil, underneath our feet,
With the Great Black spider,
seeking shade in its much laboured abode…
Moist, and walking down such a lane,
Which thereof remembers that we had been…
For I have never seen, my dear nature,
hiding the history…
All, my wanderings,
And all my curiosities within this small
universe that keeps me busy in dreams,
Has but shown me that all that we lose with time,
Come out, draped within those rusty dust and gravel stone,
All but gained a form, that of nature’s son…
Timid, those birds sang away, in glory,
While the urchins, sent to church, yonder,
Passed that rainy evening, with their smiles flying by…
Now, these simple notes, of the divinity,
Harmony, as I have versed someplace else, of epiphany,
In my piano music, that I contemplate within my ears…
I remind my dear brother soul,
Of those days, when we were young,
and this soul had passed through
Many a wilder mysteries,
And now reflections bring me back a smile,
A smile on the naïve younger me,
And also a smile boasting promise of future,
Waiting to be unearthed
by nature’s sweet melody…
And I say, my brother wearing my clothe,
For you these fingers move,
And you make these untrue lips of mine smile…
Yes, my brother, these days are mine,
And yours to cherish,
as the future is never untold,
But true, as though always told,
Past is which is most untrue,
Unless there is life,
which ran through the mocking woods,
The pigeons and sparrows,
civilization’s own birds, showing
These limitless minds the mysteries of nature…
I verse not, here, in my mind,
With these thoughts to bring
a meaning to what I write, or
Not even to write what I mean,
Such is this mysticism...
Somewhere contentment flows,
Beyond these words,
Beyond those woods,
And beyond also the longing hoods,
Contentment flows,
Which talks me into this merriment…
Soothing, yet I hear the crickets,
And also those frogs,
Birds chirping, in many voices, but a single soul…
The flow of water is just elation for this soul,
Absolute bliss, this refuge, is hardly an confinement or,
Speaking in such terms, may feel as though,
this mind has wandered from the jailed four walls,
to Paradiso...
Flutes, drums and bamboo sticks,
Air, and wind, and everything that soars,
Travel, travel far beyond the imagining mind,
And this music of ancient human brings
that joy back and we find,
Yes, it is done, it is finished,
I am back, back to the confines of my mind
After that soulful retreat and this romantic find...

© Karthik Adithya Singaraju

8 comments:

Eileen T O'Neill ..... said...

Karthik,
I congratulate and commend your skill and vision, to see and feel that wealth of all that is around you. A wonderment of the life that went before you. A serious connection with the very earth, the lichen and a constant respect for nature.
A musical background seems to have influenced your words with this piece of writing.
I really loved the concluding line:
'I am back, back to the confines of my mind.After that soulful retreat and this romantic find'.
Very beautiful words...
Karthik, I think you had a very enjoyable 'flow of inspiration.
I hope my comments have caught your personal feel for this excellent an very detailed piece of writing.
Well done!
Best wishes, Eileen :)

Just Another Observer... said...

Thanks a lot Eileen,beautiful music and beautiful memories,with a stroke of positive inspiration are the ingredients of this recipe... By the way,it is the longest poem I have ever written,running into four and half A4 word pages...:)
Always wanted to accomplish one of these...:)

Anonymous said...

Karthik, welcome to Poets United!

Your pace is so peaceful; your choice of words, thoughtful. My favorite phrase:
"As this music wafts its flavour,
To the taste buds of my ears..."
Aaaah.

So much soul.

We are all beginners, because we are all yet to set the next foot forward on the journey. Keep posting, Karthik, and we will all be reading!

Peace, Amy Barlow Liberatore

Anonymous said...

Oh - @ Eileen and Karthik:

My very first poem, a free-verse rant on the gentrification of Venice Beach, CA, ran a goodly five hand-written pages! And it was all good stuff, at least I hope...

(wink) Amy

Carrie Van Horn said...

Welcome to Poets United Karthik...
:-)

Just Another Observer... said...

Thank you Amy...:)
Thank you Carrie...:)

Anonymous said...

awesome writing..
Glad to see creativity in you and shine through completely..

Happy Monday Poetry Potluck.

Eon Heath said...

Hey, Hi
well, when i read the first half, i was enchanted and was thinking of labeling it your best piece that i have read till date...
but in the second part, the flow was good, but the flow didnt have the links as beautiful as the first half...
in the first half, the train of thoughts that you have followed is something that feels realistic, and the pace is as excellent as the flow...
the second half, you maintained the flow, but you wavered on the thoughts...its like peices woven together...i wouldnt blame you, coz the whole composition is so long in itself, that it is quite difficult to keep our mind from wavering...it is natural to every human being...
i still loved it...overall, its a rare gem...(like those diamonds you were after...)

Regards,
The Silhouette...