Quatrain#35-Illustrated Rubaiyat by Benny Thomas

“The Place where the mighty one once abode
Of Pomp and glory devoid remains ruin’d;
All I could hear there was the cry of dove,
‘Coo! where art thou!’, on and on she moaned.”

(text and illustration-benny thomas)

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The Week-end Poetry

I Have Been Dreaming, said I ©

I have been dreaming, said I
While my feet touched these cobbled lanes
Not caring if these veered to the river bank
To carry me far where the sea received all,
where galleys with unfurled sails
bided time, adrift by tremulous sign-
Ah the wind was contrary!
The captain swore profanities
At the unspeakable charms cast by
A Dreamer for whom even the wind
Bent her rules a little,
till the dreamer and the dream
Found the cabin and service.
I am the Keeper of the Royal Sun
Abdel- kerim by your leave, said I
To which the Captain bound by an oath
Steered all hands double time.
And the painted ship with ghastly crew
Did swim skirting swells and even when
the land came in view,
And the domes through swirls of dust
Gleamed under roiling heat
I knew I was dreaming.
And the chains that bound my feet
To cold slabs bore drops of sweat
and said I, These stone walls shall
Wear out before my dreams will.
Benny 3 Feb,2012(reprinted from pup of my doggrels-http://byronin.wordpress.com)

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Only In India- Cool, cool, Mayawati!

Uttar Pradesh in India has a woman Chief Minister. She made some thousand statues to glorify the fact she began as small potatoes and have become a sort of millstone around the neck of UP. But the statues are one way of redressing the inequality that for centuries existed. She was low-caste Dalit before whom all civil servants, high caste or low no matter now kowtow deeply. In making so many statues and spending millions of the tax payer’s money she is making a point that she a Dalit woman is not to be taken lightly. Some woman, some millstone!
One morning she calls her security detail and says she wants to check whether money was well spent. The Senior most bureaucrat old but not so wise said,’ Behan-Ji, you may not like what you see there.’
she calls him to come along and after seeing 896 statues in which she is keeping pose all calculated to bring awe in the eyes of the public she gets out of the car. After removing her sunglasses and peering at the face she says,’How come the sculptor made me look the same, every one of them?’ No one could give an answer. She calls for the sculptor and berates him roundly for making her look like a potato.
The sculptor who began as a Bhaia( milk-man) scratches his head and says ‘Oh Chief Minister-ji, Maaf keejiye,I could not get a water melon for a model’.

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Poems for the Solitary Hour-2

What Then? by W.B Yeats

His chosen comrades thought at school
He must grow a famous man;
He thought the same and lived by rule,
All his twenties crammed with toil;
‘What then?’ sang Plato’s ghost. ‘What then?‘

Everything he wrote was read,
After certain years he won
Sufficient money for his need,
Friends that have been friends indeed;
‘What then?’ sang Plato’s ghost. ‘What then?‘

All his happier dreams came true_
A small old house, wife, daughter son,
Grounds where plum and cabbage grew,
Poets and wits about him drew;
‘What then?’ sang Plato’s ghost. ‘What then?’

‘The work is done,’ grown old he thought,
‘According to my boyish plan;
Let the fools rage, I swerved in naught,
Something to perfection brought;’
‘What then?’ sang Plato’s ghost. ‘What then?‘

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Collateral Damage of life

If so much as long life beyond

Mortal hour-glass may be burdened;

Each grain nudging an age thereof

Past its pursed mouth to eternity; enough

For hills to powder crumble

And the hollows levelled to brim

I shall still think: one brief hour was

All that needed for such a man as I:

An hour rounded off by happiness.

 

If so much as long life beyond

Pleasure of senses or of mind did last

Life would have lost its best part,

For a man such as I: Devoid of feel

A head though with facts be filled  

Has come far too short on living;

Unsettled as I am, one perfect hour was

All that needed for such a man as I :

An hour rounded off by happiness.

 

Wrapped in tears and laughter of mankind

Either way a perfect fit I may never find.

 benny

01-17-07

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