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Arise Kalidasa.....Arise..

by Nuggehalli Pankaja
(Bangalore, India)

Flowers in the air,
Thoughts in the stream,.
Mingle with the breeze
Floating in the boat of spring………….

Champak, Mallik,
Rose, Lotus, Jasmine
Wend their way
On the by-lane
Laid with fragrance.

Ripplets , wavelets, swanlets,
Sprinkle the sheen
With songs of love and life,
Here and far beyond’

Listless hearts throb with hope,
Lyrics linger-
Rainbowy……………….
Bestirring twigs dry
To sprout-

Garlanding skyline,
Fairy—like…………..
Isn’t it Chakora cooing,Wooing
Nydilae waiting?

Moonless cloud
Glimmers with gold;
Starless sky
Shimmers like silver.

Yamuna awakens
Spreading her curls for Krishna to dance;
Kaliya flees in fright;
Gopis rush in Swaying around
Like strings of flowers,
Around their prince-
Gopal of GOKUL charming.!

“Play on thy flute my Lord,”
Beseeched Radha
To him now seated stately
On the blue now pure.

“Long since I heard thy song…
A night gone………”
“Nay Radha, this night, it’s too divine,
For me to break the spell
As of bygones;
Disturb me not………..”

“Then how,“
With impatience woman-like,
Queried the gopis,
“Will thou this hour pass?”

“Krishna looked at Radha,
One glance was enough
To savour his desire.
“Store this inspiring
Joy-borne night
For all time to come, Oh Lord!”
Pleaded she fervently.

“Etch it in the mind
Of nature
To gift it to whomsoev er she pleases
Betimes……. “

Then did Krishna,
One with nature blended,
Flute thus, in that mood
Of ecstasy -

“ARISE , ‘KALIDASA, POET DIVINE
OF KALIYUGA ‘ nearby……….

BE BORN through this dance
Of myself and Radha--- spiritual union,
As our gift-child to the universe;.
Weave all these curls of Yamuna,
And blossoms of Gokula-
,
Bosoms of gopis,
With this flute-like pen
I lend……………
Waft them through each
Cloudlet,
String them
Into each heart-beat
Till…………………

Till kings and beggars,
Even Saraswati-Gayatri,
Forget themselves,
In that poesy
Of mortals—immortals alike,
ARISE KALIDASA. . . . . ARISE!

Comments for Arise Kalidasa.....Arise..

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Mar 09, 2013
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Do not nurture any doubt
by: Geetashree Chatterjee

Your verse has a UNIQUE quality. Please do not have any doubt about it. The way you garnish brilliant imageries with your words! I always feel poetry should remain a bit incomplete so that the readers can impute their own values and interpretations to it. Everything should not be "spoken in so many words"...and you do just that so that your audience gets a wide horizon to ponder upon and visualize. Its like the renditions by the maestroes when he/she brings forth the beauty of the Raga slowly yet springing sudden surprises in between by a complex manouevre or musical meandering which leave the listeners gasping for more!Your poetry is just like that...

Mar 08, 2013
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Thanks
by: nuggehallipankaja

Geeta,
You have left me a bit wondering; Most of my poems are inspired ones,I have not bothered to give them any polish,but now your words make me feel-I should.
Am I right? If so, in what way? if you can give me some guidance re method etc,I will be very grateful.I will be awaiting your reply.

Mar 08, 2013
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Your Verse
by: Geetashree Chatterjee

Well as usual...I have seen you use words in a strange way in your poems. Like a garland of flowers with the string torn in between. What happens then ? The pattern is open and the flowers can slide out of the thread anytime one by one.

Similarly, there are gaps within the words in the verse as though you are dropping them one after the other from the stitched word craft engaging the reader in some kind of a playful provocation. As though telling them, here I use this little note in my symphony, find out what lies beyond...come on!

What I mean is there's more to read in the lines where they end with a tantalizing abruptness as though the maestro has strum a string on a particular half note and left the music in the air so that the resonance sparkles amidst silence and catches at the throat as you listen to it awed.

Some word play this is....

Mar 07, 2013
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Thanks
by: nuggehallipankaja

Vimala,
I am in the seventh heaven by your comments; I know you are sincere in commenting. And I always searh for it.
Re.your question, I have hardly written any poem in Kannada; It doesn't flow forth as easily as English poems. Probably because my schooling was done in English only. (convent) This poem flowed by itself on one Gokulashtami day; Leaving the puja midway,I took up the pen and wrote,and found out what I wrote only after the pen stopped. That was my offering to God that day. If only such inspirations can be repeated often,we would all be mini Kalidasas?

Mar 07, 2013
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lyrical
by: vimala ramu

It is a lovely, highly lyrical poem. Did you translate it from your own kannada poem? Lucky for your ease in both the languages.The connection between Kalidasa and Gopis was slightly beyond my comprehension though.

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