14 May 2015

Fourth Anniversary & A Homecoming


Four years ago I started this blog to pen thoughts on politics and economics. My last post in this space was on March 29 this year; due to ill-health, I could not write.

Starting today, I hope to share, with you, my perspective on global economics and politics.

Today I will share a poem titled 'Farewell', which was also the first post on this blog.

'Farewell' appears in Agha Shahid Ali's The Country Without a Post Office. The poem reflects the author's angst over Kashmir's desolation - once a paradise, now a Hades.

Farewell
I am being rowed through Paradise in a river of Hell:
Exquisite ghost, it is night.

The paddle is a heart; it breaks the porcelain waves.
It is still night. The paddle is a lotus.
I am rowed - as it withers - toward the breeze which is soft as
if it had pity on me.

If only somehow you could have been mine, what wouldn't
have happened in the world?

I'm everything you lost. You won't forgive me.
My memory keeps getting in the way of your history.
There is nothing to forgive. You can't forgive me.
I hid my pain even from myself; I revealed my pain only to myself.

There is everything to forgive. You can't forgive me.

If only somehow you could have been mine,
what would not have been possible in the world?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Congratulations................ Sir

Bharat C. Jain said...

Thanks, Harish.