A Return Gift From The Birthday Baby

Dear Geeth and lalitha,
I do not come any where near our stalwart! In fact I was surprised to get an fb in Sridhar's thread. This poem was actually for sharing my similar poem addressed to the Lord of death with Sridhar. But, still thank you for the words of appreciation.
Regards,
Malathi

Dear Varalotti
Hmmmmmmmm...........that was a wonderful return gift for all of us. Thank you so much.
Why after 50 people start thinking of death??? This is the 2nd post in IL in this same week and both the writers in 50's............ok about the poem..........
wonderful wordings. It is so true we stay in this world which does not belong to us. it is not our home but just a carriage which we travel, with all the up and downs, with so many bumps and softness in it. Apearing as a star in the sky ........last 4 lines superb

A very good Poem...well written with profundness. A great return gift.

We as followers of BK are always taught to be ever ready. So age is immaterial. Each day is a bonus.

Dear Sridhar,
A great piece of poetry......i can emphatise completely with each and every verse, and every word. After my father's demise last year, all of us went thru all these and came to alot of such conclusions. I absolutely believe your verse on Love being In the Heart and we can feel it!
You will always feel their love
As they always feel yours,
Till the end of Time and further more!
For time has a beginning and an end
But Love was there before time
And will be there after it too.

This poem touched my heart.....but of course how Indhu and others in family took it.....that too u had to post it now!
Not a bit depressing, it is actually more on the positive side..if we can understand it in a mature way!........but fear of death is something we are either born with or we learn it very young! So what to do? But good one....really!

Dear Sir..
Very Beautifully written..... It was a wonderful gift to all your Gf's..

Poem nala iruku sir athe samayam... ellarum ungaluku vazhlthukkal sonnom.. ippadioru poem return gifta kekdaikumnu ethirparkulla sir ..
b'day giftku return gifta yen ippadi oru poem eluthineenga kashtama thaan iruku....

The lines... really melted myheart....

The stars are shining in the night
As we pass them in our flight
I leave a mark in the Northern Star
Which I am sure, you’ll see
When you do, think of me

Long Live Siridhar Sir......
Endrum anbudan
brindha.....

dear sridhar sir,
was waiting eagerly for your return gift, but was not quite prepared for this....
but i loved your poem, and more so, its prelude...both are profound,and poignant...
of course,death is not an end,but just another stage in the long journey of the soul, but not many have the courage to accept it and take it in their stride...
i would recommend both your poem and the preface as must reads to everyone , for you have expressed a deep and complex subject in a way that would make everyone understand it and feel much better....

Your mention of the Katopanishad brings back memories of my childhood....my dad had given me a book which had a children's version of many stories from Indian scriptures, and in it was the story of young Nachiketas...
in fact,my dad had wanted to name me Nachiketas, but i turned out to be a girl...

Dear Devika,

An excellent poem, Your wordings were almost like James Henry Leigh Hunt, so fascinated was I , that I wished the poem wouldnt end. Beautiful verses!! Fabulous rhythm!!

I can survive the rest of my life with these lines. Coming from a poetess of stature they have an added weight. Thanks. But honestly I don't know who's James Henry Leigh Hunt and haven't read any of his poem. When you talk nicely about him, he should be a great poet.

You took us through the journey of death but it wasnt depressing, it wasnt negative.It was very pragmatic and aesthetically done with no signs of wallowing.

These lines are quite reassuring. Many people did not want me to post the poem on my b'day or even after that. As I told in the prelude, a talk about death need not necessarily be defeatist or depressive. Having an open mind about death gives us an open mind about life itself. Thanks for reinforcing my belief in my lines.

With these skills is it any wonder that you are termed the wonder writer with a nation (IL) for fan following.

A return gift I shall treasure for life.!!

Thanks again, Devika. You gifted me a beautiful poem on my b'day. It may not be a matching return gift, but I am happy that I could repay "in the same coin"

love,

Dear Malathi,
Honestly this poem came out not because I was emotional but because for a very brief period of time, I could suspend my emotions and intellect and let the words pass through me.
Why not at 50? If I had had the inspiration I could have written the poem even at 20.
We always think that people who are older are closer to death than those who are younger. It is not so. With its time unknown, everyone of us have a distance with death that can only be described as indeterminate.

Those were beautiful lines!

Only when we merge with the divine can such profound and beautiful words can come!

Thanks. Unlike my stories and articles, with poem, I do not have deadlines or self-imposed minimum output requirements. I let it come through at its own pace. I got the core of the poem ready two weeks ago and I have been polishing it all the time.

Would you believe, I too had written a poem on time, space and love a few years back at a time when I was all full of bliss and words just poured out as poetry. But I had written it on a piece of paper and no matter how much I searched, I couldn't locate it! Try however hard now, I am not able to recollect the beautiful words that came into my mind at that time! I feel sad about it but then I accept God had His own plans.

How sad! But I'll tell you something, Malathi. Once the words have come out of your mind, they will never go out of this universe. Don't search for that piece of paper. Take another piece of paper and search for the words. Who knows you might get better words this time. We are all waiting for you to post that poem.

I hope Indhu does not get disturbed by this poem!

Yes, she was. I told her about the poem on my b'day itself. But she refused to read the poem on that day. And only yesterday before posting she read the poem and found it good. But she felt rather heavy and did not speak for a while.

regards,

Dear Kamla,

You are very kind and clever. With your first post, you have somewhat prepared us for what's to come. If not, I too would have said why this and why now!

Thanks. As I have been saying all along, poem is something happening to you. You do not plan to write a poem. It is like blood-circulation or heart-beating. Nobody says, "I am now sitting here and circulating my blood" I don't circulate my blood. The blood circulates. Poems too happen like that. Great ones and the ones I write, all follow the same rule. More than you, Kamla, I needed the preparatory material. It is what I wrote for myself.

There is no doubt that the poem is a very valuable gift. It is almost like you have grown right in front of our eyes and are now this wonderful poet! So very well written. The verses are built so well and the words sit very naturally. Enjoyed reading it.

I loved the expression you used. To grow right in front of your loving eyes, and those of all the ILites, is a very rare blessing. In another angle I would say, that it is your love that is growing. And when you look at me with increasing love, my growth in stature appears as an optical illusion. That's the crux of it.
But again in another level, I can divide my writings into Pre-IL days and Post IL days. SHE or HE or a poem like this, I could not have written except with the love and affection of you and the other 19643 members (member-count at 8 20 AM IST on 1st May 200 who constitute this wonderful community.

The meaning too is very profound. And what you say is true, why have apprehensions about death which we know is the only sure thing that is going to happen to all of us? All the same, I am thankful that we are blessed with this Maya and need not dwell upon it!

You are right. We need not dwell on the meaning of death 24 by 7. But have to think of it once in a while, so that our living gets the right perspective.

Having said that, just some minutes ago, I replied to an ILite who had written so soulfully about her father's demise. Besides, I am presently reading Mitch Albom's 'The Five People You Meet in Heaven' and now this, thanks to you :)

I have read Mitch Albom's book and his earlier one too, Tuesdays With Morrie. You should read The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche after that.

Thanks for the touching fb, my dear friend.
love,

Dear Malathi,

I am thrilled to see that you have quoted those lines in the prelude which I loved to write.

And your poem written some 14 years ago is simple yet profound. When you have the time and inclination get hold of a standard sandhyavandanam book and read Yama vandhanam. It's so very wonderful.

And people always think that chitra guptha belongs to our profession. As we keep an account of assets and liabilities, incomes and expenses, chitragupta keeps an account of rights and wrongs.
But let's stop here for a while and look on the name chitra guptha. You know gupth means secret. (In those days there was a movie on sex education called "guptha gyan" secret knowledge) And the word chitra means wonderful.
So Yama is a keeper of a wonderful secret, death. Osho used to say that death is the only phenomenon which human beings could not corrupt.

regards,