014. Song Of The Wave. Kahlil Gibran. Recast In The True Poetic Form.

014.
Song Of The Wave. Kahlil Gibran. Recast In The True Poetic Form By P.S.Remesh Chandran.
Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum.

By PSRemeshChandra, 15th Apr 2011 [5th Oct 2010]
Short URL http://nut.bz/12biqfdd/
Posted in Wikinut Poetry

The sea, clouds and waves and the ever patient shore are a wonder to the new born babe, the steam engine like youth and the old man who is like a fading sunset. This energetic, thrilling, restless dame that is the ocean is shy and submissive to only one, her eternal and beloved lover, the shore. Their unending love story which has been going on and will continue to be so through the ages is presented here in the true poetic form.

Man brought back a piece of ocean with him which he still can hear in his blood and soul.


A piece of ocean is inside all beings.



Standing on the shore seeing the perpetual mounting, rolling and thundering of the waves, one will wonder how much water is there on the ocean and if there is an opposite shore, how far and distant that would be. Sea-going boats men and yaughts men won't admit that their fascination for the sea would never be satiated. From time immemorial ocean waves lapping on the shore has been reminding man of the eternity of time and of the beautiful perceptions of its creator. Expanse of the ocean is the first thing that presented man with a glimpse of the immenseness of space and eternity of time. Since life forms migrated to shore from the ocean, man brought back a piece of ocean along with him which in still silent nights he can still listen to reverberating in his blood and soul.

It is easier to count the number of poets who did not write about the ocean.


Ocean blue: the intriguing mystic attraction.



Sea shore and the ocean blue has always been an intriguing and mystic attraction to mankind. The poetical mind of the world gradually began to think of them as lovers, meeting kissing embracing and departing eternally, theirs being the most magnificent love story in the world. It is easier to count which poets did not retell this lovely love story than going after the countless number of poets who celebrated this ardence and affection of the ocean for the shore. Kahlil Gibran's Song Of The Wave surpasses every other one in it's unique poetic conceptions, beauty of diction and musical thrill. He wrote it in blank verse to mask his tune which Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum recast in the true poetic form for all the world to sing. Song Of The Wave is included in his book Tears And Laughter. It is hoped that world music lovers and Kahlil Gibran fans in all continents will enjoy and benefit from being able to sing this song naturally for the first time. It is expected that beautiful orchestrations and musical albums and films of this immortal song will be made by those interested and talented. Readers, learners and researchers are advised to read Gibran's original blank verse as well.

Song Of The Wave from Tears and Laughter. The Poem Recast.



Drowning souls lifted tenderly towards shore.

 4. SONG OF THE WAVE.

[Slightly edited and recast in the true
poetic form by P.S.Remesh Chandran,
Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books,
Trivandrum]

The strong shore is my beloved, and
I am his sweetheart, united we are at last
By love; and the moon draws me then from him,
I go to him in haste and depart
Reluctantly, with many little farewells.

I steal swiftly from behind the blue
Horizon, to cast the silver of my foam
Upon the gold of his sand;
And we blend in melted brilliance.

No love song equals the majesty and perfection of this scene.



When all asleep, I sit up singing in the night.

I quench his thirst and submerge his heart,
He softens my voice and subdues my temper,
And then I recite the rule of love upon
His ears, and he embraces me longingly.

At eventide I sing to him the song
Of Hope, and then print kisses smooth upon
His face; I am swift and fearful but he
Is quiet patient and thoughtful. His
Broad bossom soothes my restlessness,
As the tide comes we caress each other;
When it withdraws I drop to his feet in prayer.

Lifted drowning souls and carried them tenderly to shore.


His broad bosom will soothe my restlessness.

Many times have I danced around mermaids
As they rose from the depths,
And rested upon my crest to watch the stars;
Many times have I heard lovers complain
Of their smallness and I helped them to sigh.

Many times have I teased the great rocks
And fondled them with a smile, but never have I
Received laughter from them; many times
Have I lifted drowning souls and carried them
Tenderly to my beloved shore,
He gives them strength as he takes mine.

In the dead of night when all creatures seek slumber, I sit up singing.



The wave and shore. Theirs an eternal love story.

Many times have I stolen gems from the depths
And presented them to my beloved shore,
He takes in silence but still I give
For he welcomes me ever.

In the heaviness of night when all
Creatures seek the ghost of slumber, I
Sit up singing at one time,
At another I am awake always.

Alas! Sleeplessness has weakened me!
But I am a lover and the truth of Love is strong;
I may weary but I shall never die.

Note

The number of poets in all languages, lands and ages who wrote about the magnificence, might and beauty of the ocean are as many as there are stars in the universe. The primitive man sitting on the moonlit ocean shore under star studded skies might have been the first creator of a song. His exclamations in wonder at the series of meteorites and shooting stars raining on the blue expanse were the first poetry. No doubt Kahlil Gibran's mind synchronized with that lone singer's soul from an unthinkably far distant past. What love, caring and consideration were stored in the ocean's depths by the creator for man is beautifully conveyed verbatim by Gibran in the Song Of The Wave. The shore is none but man in a philosophical perspective. And the ocean, the creator's eternal inexhaustible kindness!

__________________________
Pictures Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
_______________________________



Tags

American Literature, American Poets, Arabic Poets, English Literature, English Poems, English Songs, Kahlil Gibran, Khalil Gibran, Lebanese Poets, P S Remesh Chandran, Poetry, Sahyadri Books And Bloom Books Trivandrum, Song Of The Wave, Tears And Laughter

Meet the author

PSRemeshChandra

Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan : The Intelligent Picture Book.

Comments

Rathnashikamani
17th Apr 2011 (#) 

PSRC,

This a lovely literary tribute to the true purpose of spiritual poetry. Marvelous appreciation and an excellent composition of an enchanting poem.

A Budding Writer
10th Jun 2011 (#)

PSRemeshChandra.....I am glad to know that you are an editor and author as mentioned in your profile. If you consider it as answerable, i would like to know your age. I am a teenager and have high dreams. I would like to know how many years it took you to be where you are today.

013. Song Of The Rain. Kahlil Gibran. Recast In The True Poetic Form.

013.

Song Of The Rain. Kahlil Gibran. Recast In The True Poetic Form By P.S.Remesh Chandran.
Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum.

By PSRemeshChandra, 11th Apr 2011. [3rd Jan 2011] 
Short URL http://nut.bz/lbv9utb9/
Posted in Wikinut Poetry Drama & Criticism. 

It is alleged that Kahlil Gibran hid his exquisite tunes behind a mask of blank verse to prevent the dull wits and the half wits of his times from enjoying his songs. This song is for the first time recast in the true poetic form by Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum so that all the world may sing. It is expected that beautiful orchestrations of this immortal song will follow from other quarters of the world.

Through the skies she comes, down to the earth, to sustain a planet.


Clouds in the sky.

Song Of The Rain is included in Kahlil Gibran's famous collection of poems Tears And Laughter. It is written in the form of the rain herself singing her song as she comes down. In scientific perfection, this song can be compared only to P.B.Shelley's Ode To The West Wind, which will leave readers which one excels. Rain is beautifully personified in this song. Gibran was a close observer of not only human nature, but nature's creations and elements also. It is the first time in literary history that someone tells about the inner feelings and thrill of the rain in pouring out, spreading on the ground, seeping into the inner bowels of the earth and sustaining this planet.

Dotted silver threads, delivering love messages.



Rain on trees.

Rain is dotted silver threads dropped from heaven by Gods, which nature takes away then to adorn her fields and valleys. She is beautiful pearls plucked by the Daughter of Dawn from some sovereign's crown, to embellish her gardens. The clouds and fields are lovers and she is a messenger between them. By pouring out the rain cures the cloud and by coming down to the ground she quenches the thirst of the field. The voice of thunder declares her arrival and the rainbow her departure. When she cries coming down the skies the hills laugh, when she reaches the ground the flowers rejoice, and when she has seeped down deep into the soil all things are elated.

Listen to the rain: it is an incessant song.



Shelter in rain under a tree.

Rain emerges from the heart of the sea and soars with the breeze. When she sees a field in need, she descends and downpours and embraces the flowers and trees in her own million little ways. In human houses, she touches the windows with soft gentle fingers and all can hear her welcome song which but the sensitive can understand. She is born out of heat in the air which in her turn she kills, exactly as a woman overcomes a man with the strength she takes from him. Rain is the sigh of the sea, the laughter of the field and the tears of the Heaven and Love. One will wonder how scientific and close Kahlil Gibran was. It was as if he entered the very soul of the Rain to sing on her behalf. This song is only one of Gibran's many exquisite creations. Just listen to the rain: it is the tune that made this song. Gibran did not invent or create a tune for this song, he copied it. Actually he stole it from the rain.

Rivers, meadows and mountains all sing songs after rain.



Wet grass after winter rain.

As the rain reaches earth, life in the planet rejuvenates. Rivers, rivulets, streams, ponds, lakes, lagoons and oceans replenishes. Nature appears as if she has been washed out clean and lain to dry in sunshine. Grass turns lush green, squirrels birds and cows come out and the sky is once more serene. Rivers, meadows and mountains all sing songs after a rain.

Song Of The Rain. The Poem Recast.



Rainbow above water. God' promise to man.

 3. SONG OF THE RAIN.

[Slightly edited and recast in the true
poetic form by P.S.Remesh Chandran, Editor,
Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum]

I am dotted silver - threads
Dropped from heaven by Gods,
Nature takes me then - to
Adorn her fields and valleys.

I am beautiful pearls - plucked
From the crown of Ishtar,
By the daughter of Dawn - to
Embellish her gardens.

Rain, the most joyful thing in this world.



A Song Thrush after a torrential rain.

 When I cry the hills laugh - and
When I humble myself
The flowers rejoice, and when I
Bow, all things are elated.

The 'field and cloud are lovers - me a
Messenger of mercy between them,
I quench the thirst of the field - and
Cure th'ailment of the cloud.

The 'voice of thunder declares
My 'arrival and the rainbow
A'nnounces my departure - 'am like
Earthly life which begins at
The 'feet of mad elements, ends
Un'der th'upraised wings of death.

I gently touch the windows with my soft fingers.



Green pasteure, the blessing of the rain.

 Heart 'of the sea I emerge from - and
Soar with the breeze. When I see
A 'field in need I descend and
Em'brace the flowers and trees - in my
'Million little ways.

I 'gently touch the windows
With my s'oft fingers - And my
An'nouncement is a welcome - song
'All can hear but only - the sensi-
Tive can understand.

I am the laughter of the field.



Rain on house front and pavement.

 I 'am the sigh of the sea,
The laughter of the field,
The 'tears of the Heaven,
'And so is with love.

Sighs 'from deep sea of affection,
Laugh'ter from colourful field
Of 'spirit; and tears from th'endless
'Heaven of memories.


Note

Rain is legendary. It is what caused and preserved life in this planet. Life which arrived in some meteorite particle and remained in the sky was brought down to the earth in a rain. When it rained incessantly for months and months, the world submerged in floods but Noah with a few samples of life forms escaped in his Ark. When water subsided he offered a sacrifice and prayer to God who solaced and assured man that he will never again destroy world through water. As a token of his covenant, he laid his beautiful bow on the rain clouds. After the rain, when the rainbow appears God is reminded of his promise to man that he will not destroy the world again with rain. It is true, after the rainbow there is no rain, though there is excellent scientific reason for the same.


___________________________
Pictures Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
___________________________
Tags
American Literature, American Poets, Arabic Poets, English Literature, English Poems, English Songs, Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese Poets, P S Remesh Chandran, Poetry, Sahyadri Books And Bloom Books Trivandrum, Song Of The Rain, Songs, Tears And Laughter

Meet the author

PSRemeshChandra
Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan : The Intelligent Picture Book.


Comments
Rathnashikamani
17th Apr 2011 (#)
Great compilation. A true literary commentary on the poetry of the spiritual poet Kahlil Gibran.

loverme
16th Apr 2011 (#)
The rain.
I think none of us can compose
such exquisite rainy poetry as did Kahlill Gibran of yesterdays.
We all are more proasic than the poetic of the poets
of to day ,
Let us hope some day ,
we can compose poems Kahlil Gibran's ,
innimitable way

Rathnashikamani
17th Apr 2011 (#)
loverme,
Rain inspires.
Your comment is wonderful.
And I saw you got inspired by this and posted a tribute also.

PSRemeshChandra
1st May 2011 (#)
Yes Dear Rathnashikamani. I read Loverme's tribute too. It is fine. Someday, as loverme likes, many will begin to write as inimitably as Gibran thereby ending all inimitability. Anyway, considering your love for the Rain Theme, I have posted a few pictures now.


Jass khurana
1st Oct 2011 (#)
I luv this poem as i get to know about god's messages and nao i believe in god.

Prachi
4th Dec 2011 (#)
I luv dis poem b'coz this poem is in my syllabus.

Bindu
14th Dec 2011 (#)
This is quite beautiful with all those wet shots... Long live Gibran through his words and expressions....

Roushan Mishra
25th Dec 2011 (#)
I'm passionately interested in this song as it's full of personification.

PSRemeshChandra
5th Jan 2012 (#)

Dear Jass Khurana, Prachi, Bindu and Roushan Mishra,

Thank you for your observations and comments. When Kahlil Gibran is concerned, no one in this world can know whoever were captivated for once or for a life time by this immortal poet. Certainly Sarojini Naidu and Rabindranath Tagore loved him. Because the present day world sees many poets who are lacking in musical minds, our only solace is the abundance of ancient poetry left to us as a legacy by the bygone poets. Because of their time-surpassing musical poetry we do not feel and sense poetry drying up around us. Gibran is perhaps one of the last poets of that era, a picture which probably will be the last one we see standing there when we too are leaving this world.

Mancirat kaur
15th Jan 2012 (#)
A beautiful poem. Like this poem because i love nature and i am passionately interested in nature. Gibron has beautifully shown all the forms of the rain.

012. The Creation Of Man And Woman. Kahlil Gibran Poem Recast.

012.
The Creation Of Man And Woman. Kahlil Gibran. Recast In The True Poetic Form By P.S.Remesh Chandran.
Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum.

By PSRemeshChandra, 8th Apr 2011. [First Publication 30th Sep 2010]
Short URL http://nut.bz/i7sjvwju/
Posted in Wikinut Poetry Drama & Criticism.

Kahlil Gibran is mistakenly considered to have written his poems in free verse or blank verse but actually he was hiding his exquisite tunes behind a mask, so that the dull wits and half wits of his times won't attempt to sing them. Songs from his immortal work Tears And Laughter are fine examples of a poet locking out his lines. Two poems from Tears And Laughter, Creation Of Man and Creation Of Woman are presented here, slightly edited and recast in the true poetic form by P.S.Remesh Chandran.

A poet suspected of hiding exquisite tunes behind a mask of blank verse.



Statue of Eve in Eve Fountain, St.Petersberg.



Kahlil Gibran was a U.S- Arabic- Lebanese poet who thrilled the world with exotic tunes and captivating ideas common to all Arab and Persian poets. This wonder that was Gibran brought excellent imagery unheard of and unthought-of of before to the pages of English poetry. His poems have been a source of unending inspiration to poets and poetry appreciating public alike. He is widely accepted as a writer of what is called free verse, blank verse or prose-poems. Considering the sweetness and mellowness of his lines, it is improbable that his mind had not been impregnated with some heavenly music at the time he wrote these lines. His poems can be compared only to such brilliant and musically inspired Persian poets as Gulchin, Sana'i, Rumi, Nizami, Jami, Hafiz, Amir Khusrau, Firdausi and of course Omar Khayyam. So it was only natural there was a hilarious tune concealed behind each song and poem written by Kahlil Gibran. In almost all his poems can be found traces of slight reference to brilliant geniuses being ignored, neglected or condemned by the half wits and the jealous of their times. Thus we come to guess that Kahlil Gibran hid his exquisite tunes behind a mask of blank verse so that the dull wits and half wits of his times won't attempt to sing them.

Statutory Warning: Whoever goes after Gibran will have to suffer the same fate depicted in his poems.



Creation of the world. Painting by Brueghel.



It has been a challenge to music and poetry appreciators all over the world to rediscover the tunes hid by Gibran in his songs. A Dialectical Metaphysicist himself, some uncanny mystic fate surrounded and enveloped his poems which made them immune to unripe persons. Whoever went after Gibran to find out the hidden music in his poems had to suffer and undergo the same misery, poverty, isolation, neglect and suppression depicted by the poet in his poems. That is why those tunes and versifications which were discovered earlier never came out to the printer's press. The strike of fate on those unfortunates who attempted to recast his poems earlier might have been such forceful and complete that they never could have risen again in their lives. Recasting Gibran poems to bring out the rich musical content in them is easy, but surviving and surpassing the fatal strikes extended from the mystic hallo surrounding each poem is not at all easy. This author also did not escape unscathed. Someday I wish to write about my horrible experiences. And I hope someday the results of those other attempts would come to daylight and be published. When Gibran in one of his poems wrote about manuscript pages of the dying poet blown away to future generations by the wind, no one thought it to be a key to the mysticism surrounding the real life of this magical poet.

Dedicated to those who attempted Gibran poems earlier, but did not escape unscathed.



Created the Garden of Eden for housing man.



Tears And Laughter is one of the immortal works of Kahlil Gibran, the others being The Broken Wings and The Prophet. All poems in these works are good to be read and sung. Poems from Tears And Laughter have since been slightly edited and recast in the true poetic form by P.S.Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. The following songs from this book are now released online so that all the world may sing them and enjoy them. Hope copyright restrictions if any won't hamper the zeal of the world and dampen the cherished wish of Gibran Fans in all countries. This work is dedicated to those creative minds from all corners of the world who attempted recasting Kahlil Gibran poems earlier, but did not survive the mystic and fatal blows from the poems.

The Creation Of Man
The Creation Of Woman
A Poet's Death Is His Life
Song Of The Rain
Song Of The Wave
A Lover's Call

Someone someday somewhere will recast all Gibran poems to bring out the rich musical content in them.



Paradise painted in oil by Brueghel.



It is hoped that Kahlil Gibran's other works will also be brought out in the true poetic form by others elsewhere. In coming years, recasting of more songs in Tears And Laughter will be undertaken and published. Beautiful orchestrations also will be made which finally will show to the world what a U.S- Arabic- Lebanese combination means. Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum presents the first song in this series, The Creation Of Man before the poetry-appreciating public.

1. Creation Of Man. The Poem Recast.



After creation, man was shown to other creatures.



Furnace of Anger gave consuming fire,
Desert of Ignorance gave searing wind,

The shore of Selfishness sharp-cutting sand,
And feet of Ages coarse earth from under.

Combining them God fashioned Man and gave
To him a blind power, raging and driving

Him into madness which extinguishes
Only before gratification of Desire,

And placed in him Life which is the spectre of Death.
God laughed and cried, felt overwhelming Love

And Pity, and beneath his guidance sheltered Man.
Burning fire in one eye, rolling ocean in the other.

God created man out of fire, wind, sand and earth provided by anger, ignorance, selfishness and ages respectively, leaving no mighty element untouched and unutilized for his creation. It was expected that the raging blind power blown into him would drive him into his inborn madness which would extinguish only upon attainment of gratification of his desire, consuming him finally. That was the scheme. Desire was invented and designed for him, and placed in him naturally. Then God placed life in him which is in fact a manifestation and the haunting ghost-like presentiment of death. God knew that man would die someday which man alone did not know until he ate the fruit, lost his innocence and divined the ultimate knowledge of life and death. The instant he ate the fruit, the first dead leaf fell in the garden. God did see in advance his creation going after gratification of his desire and after a brief span of life, lying somewhere dead and still. That was why he laughed and cried at the same time, feeling overwhelming joy and pity for this doomed fragile creation, and decided to stay with him and to protect him under his guidance like a child who will never grow.

2. Creation Of Woman. The Poem Recast.



Woman created in elegance in the garden.



God separated Spirit from himself,
Fashioned it into Beauty and showered upon

All blessings of gracefulness and kindness
And gave the cup of Happiness and said:

"Drink not from this cup unless you forget past
And future, happiness but this moment."

He also gave a cup of Sorrow and said:
"Drink from this cup and you will understand

The meaning of the fleeting instants of
The joy of life, for Sorrow ever abounds."

Versification and orchestration of Gibran poems will become the most pleasant verbal exercise in future.

 

Expulsion from home: the price of sin and learning.

These slightly edited and recast poems of Kahlil Gibran are the first of its kind that got published ever. Only a mind perfectly thrilled at creating such perfect and exquisite tunes can write those lines. It is theorized that Gibran wrote them in this exact way, and then to mislead readers, he rearranged his lines to make them look like blank verse. Considering the majesty and loftiness of his theme, it is not unlike him to disguise his poetry in this manner and divert readers from the dazzling glory of divinity. Many poets like Rabindranath Tagore and Sarojini Naidu also have successfully locked their lines before appreciators. It is contextual to note that these two poets were admirers of Kahlil Gibran. To perfectly appreciate their poems, the readers will have to unlock or rediscover their original writing. Readers, learners and researchers are advised to read the original blank-verse text of Gibran as well. It is hoped that more Gibran poems will be recast to bring out the rich musical content in them. Versification of Kahlil Gibran poems and orchestrating them in their original tunes will become the most pleasant verbal exercise in future in the English speaking Arab world.

Note

What Gibran wrote, he experienced. Not that what Gibran experienced, he wrote. Poetry should be fact melted down in philosophy. Philosophy is to be derived by an individual from the experience he gains. Therefore, a person who writes philosophical poems incommensurate with his age, without adequate back support of experience, will be forced to experience the very things he wrote. That is Nature's balancing. The author and the commenter of this article has undergone this trial and punishment for attempting works unbecoming of age. It happened so in regard to my own literary creations. Regarding the additional punishment I have had to bear for recasting Gibran poems, I have decided to write about it in detail sometime, if allowed. One thing is certain. Kahlil Gibran wrote superb philosophical poems which fitted not his age. And he escaped from experiencing the very things. So the gravity of the residual energy envelops the poems like a black hole, draining the energy of all who deal with those poems. There have been equally disturbing stories about Shakespeare's certain plays which cause untoward incidents at wherever they are acted. The last time I heard, it was a chandelier that broke down from the roof and fell 'accidentally' on the stage.

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Pictures Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
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Tags
Arabic Poets, English Language, English Literature, English Poems, English Songs, Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese Poets, P S Remesh Chandran, Poem, Poetry, Sahyadri Books And Bloom Books Trivandrum, Sahyadri Books Bloom Books, Tears And Laughter, The Creation Of Man, U S Poets

Meet the author
PSRemeshChandra
Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan : The Intelligent Picture Book.

Comments
Rathnashikamani
20th Jun 2011 (#)
PSRemeshChandra,
You're to Kahlil Gibran, what T.S. Eliot was to John Donne.

NEWS



Read the full book as Amazon print.
Link: https://www.createspace.com/3672570 

 

011. No More Hiroshimas. James Kirkup.

011.
No More Hiroshimas. James Kirkup. Appreciation By P.S.Remesh Chandran.
 
Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum.
 
By PSRemeshChandra, 23rd Mar 2011.
Short URL http://nut.bz/c-q37yc7/
Posted in Wikinut Reviews Poetry, Drama & Criticism

Mankind hates to destruct, in spite of the destructive traits inherent in man. In his heart, man is a good being who likes to preserve mankind's achievements intact for the posterity. But politics is often not led by men, but by mobs and crowds. Wars when fought by single persons have always turned to be good to this world: Socrates, Tolstoy, Louis Pasteur. When fought by people, they turned hell loose in this world.

292 years free of war in a history of 5500 years.

U S Bombers moving to Japan over Mount Fuji.

In the history of mankind, one will find no desire which is older and stronger than the desire for a world without wars. For centuries, peace in this world meant only the interval between two wars. Swiss historian Jean- Jacques Bebel calculated that out of the 5500 years' history of the world, only 292 years remained free of any kind of wars. Two World Wars emanated from the soil of Germany. But in Europe the guns are silent now. People hope that the clock of history won't be turned back again.

Sumee-Ko, War And Peace and The Flowers Of Hiroshima.

Had it not been but for Imperialism!

Arms-Limitation, Anti-War Literature and Detente brought about this favourable situation. Countless novels such as War And Peace, Sumee-ko and The Flowers Of Hiroshima, and dozens of plays including Henrik Ibsen’s Ghost moulded human minds to remain synchronized with upheavals and outbreaks of political profiteerism and in the midst of chaos, practice the negative virtue of tolerance. Wilfred Owen and James Kirkup were just two of the hundreds of committed poets who added the influence of poetry too to the goodwill of this world-wide movement.

Three-headed fishes and children with no head at all: The balance-sheet of a mega ton blast.

The pre-war serenity in Japan.

The atom-bomb which blasted in Hiroshima in the Second World War wiped out millions of people from the face of the earth for ever. Millions more survived only for being subjected to life-long agony. Three-headed fishes and children with no head at all were no wonder in the affected areas for so many years. Radio-activated patients overcrowded hospitals in the cities and villages, the sustaining and affording of whom became a national problem, stealing into the already scant national resources. Catastrophe continued through generations. Destructions of war were great, the relics of which were, and are, exhibited in Museums and War Memorials to remind the world that wayward politicians no more care for humanity.

The poet and traveller who finally arrives in Japan to settle.

Hiroshima City before the bombing.

James Falconer Kirkup was a poet, translator and travel-writer who was born in England. His poems, plays, novels and autobiographies made him a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. After a few years of an eventful life in the island, he travelled through and resided in Europe, America, Far East and finally reached Japan where he settled for 30 years and taught English Literature in several Universities. He was very skilled in writing Haiku Poems and was much respected by the Japanese. Even the Emperor of Japan and the Empress invited him to recite poetry in their presence and he was presented with many prestigious awards there. No More Hiroshimas is his famous poem in which he reveals to the world the commercialized post-war faces of Japan.

A river once polluted, refuses to be rehabilitated and remains sad.

Hiroshima City after the bombing.

In the poem we see the poet arriving at a railway station in the reconstructed city of Hiroshima. He quite forgets which city it is, since all looks similar in the post-war Japan. It resembles any other town in Japan, since all towns are noisy, muddy ramshackle alike after the war. In the dim dew-falling evening, he walks towards the city proper. Neon exhibits of traders attract his attention. They are advertising Atomic Lotion for hair fallout. It looks ridiculous to the much travelled poet, but who knows the pain and frustration of those whose hair fallout rapidly daily? Just as Oliver Goldsmith said in his Deserted Village, 'trade's unfeeling train had usurped the land and disposed of the swaine.' Whatever had remained unsellable for centuries in the pure and proud tradition of the Japanese were being made sellable to attract tourists, the sustaining revenue of a wrecked nation. He passes the rows of fruit stalls and meat stalls, observing the scenes around him on his way and finally reaches the river. The face of Hiroshima was changing. Losses were recompensed and destructions repaired. Everything was being restored or rehabilitated to its former position. But the river alone 'remains unchanged and sad, refusing any kind of rehabilitation.' The river symbolizes the stream of life in the city. Once polluted, it can never be rehabilitated into its former position. 'It was the pride of a bold peasantry that was broken and hurt.'

A traveller and a poet fight in a dilapidated hotel room.

A melted-down clock from the ground zero.

In the city proper, the poet finds life splendid, busy and ornamental. People seem to have forgotten what have happened. In some shops, cheaply decorated mini models of the famous, bombed Industry Promotion Hall are on display for sale. The indecent modernity of the tourist hotel in which he stays displeases him. The very twisted stair cases which have witnessed the heavy blast appear that they may collapse and fall anytime. He feels 'the contemporary stairs treacherous, the corridors deserted and peopleless, his room in the hotel an overheated mortuary and the bar, a bar in darkness.' It should be specially noted here that the traveller poet is uncertain as to whether he should grieve or relish the unrepaired state of the heavily damaged and dilapidated hotel of his stay. The traveller in him craves for comfort and the poet in him longs for nostalgic status-quo.

The power to forget is the greatest faculty of the oriental mind.

Japanese surrender before the U.S.

When a nation and a people feel that they are wronged, it is common consensus that they have a right to be angry. But in the city of Hiroshima the poet sees that it was evident that the people forgot everything too soon. Their sorrow seems short-lived. He has his own European logic in such matters and is angry that their anger too is dead. He is plain to speak that anger should not die and should be kept alive till war-destructions are avenged. 'To forgive is to cut branches of the tree; but to forget is to lay axe to the very roots’: though not his lines, it reflects his philosophy. It has to be noted here that the poet was born and brought up in Britain, had travelled through and lived for years in Europe, America and the Far East and had only arrived in Japan recently. He knows nothing about the workings of the Oriental Mind. Oriental Mind means magnanimity, deliquescence and tolerance. Had it been otherwise, great philosophies such as Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism would not have originated from there. Also if it had not been so, those places would have become the vast burial grounds of the colonial British. Had man remembered everything from his birth, his brain would have become overcrowded to the point of bursting itself. That is why Nature provided man with the power to forget as a pressure-valve, the very essential to the oriental mind.

'How times are altered, trade's unfeeling train usurps the land'.

Children's Peace Monument in Hiroshima.

But in Japan, instead, atomic peace was seen geared to meet the demands of the tourists' trade. War relics were renovated for promoting tourism industry, adding new charm, loveliness and nobility to those relics. But the poet feels that this renovation is a shame and indignity to those relics. As indignated already, they are beyond all hope of further indignation by anyone.

Who will not weep if they see it?

Tranquillity of a proud land restored.

It is when he reaches the Park Of Peace that the emotional poet finds something perfectly appealing to his orthodox tastes. It is the only place in Hiroshima City that rouses respect in his mind. It is a monument for the children who were blasted away by mankind's crime. The various exhibits in the War Memorial Museum moved him and he wept. Melted bricks and slates, photos of various scenes after the blast and other relics of the explosion were arranged there for all the world to see. The other relics which made the poet weep were stop-watches all stuck at that destined time, burnt clothing, charred boots, twisted buttons, ripped kimonos, atomic rain-perforated blouses and the cotton pants in which blasted boys crawled to their homes to bleed and breathe their last. According to the poet, they are the only memorials of the war, worth viewing. When we come to this part of the poem, we are not inclined but forced to agree with the poet in that war remains shall not be sold and grief commercialized, however poor we are. The poet has perfectly convinced us of this. War relics are the properties of our dead, those people who lived and played and laughed with us. When death occurs in a house, it is when we see the clothes worn by the gone person hanging there that a lump is caused in our throats and we weep. It is a feeling which shall not be written, told, expressed; a feeling so sacred and private to the very soul of humans that even its utterance is a crime.

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Pictures Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
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Tags
 
Appreciations, Atomic Disasters, Atomic Fallout, British Poets, English Poets, English Songs, James Kirkup, Japan In War, Literature And Language, No More Hiroshimas, Nuclear Blasts, Nuclear Holocausts, P S Remesh Chandran, Poetry, Reviews, Sahyadri Books And Bloom Books Trivandrum, Second World War


Meet the author
 
PSRemeshChandra
 
Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan : The Intelligent Picture Book.


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Comments
 
Rathnashikamani
31st Mar 2011 (#)
 
Great tribute to James Kirkup, the compassionate poet.
Also let us hope for no more Fukushimas.


Dear Reader,
You are invited to kindly visit the Author’s Web Site of P.S.Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum at:
Time Upon My Window Sill.