GREAT THOUGHTS ON WORLD PEACE

 

 

                                GREAT THOUGHTS ON WORLD PEACE

            “Peace” is defined as a situation or a period of time in which there is no war or violence in a country or an area.

            World Peace Day is observed on 21 September. This day is dedicated to strengthening the ideals of peace, non-violence, and a global ceasefire. Established by the United Nations, it is observed annually on the above-mentioned date.

            Let us have a look at some great thoughts  on peace.

*Peace is the happy, natural state of man; war, his corruption, his disgrace.---Scottish poet James Thomson (1700-1748).

*Five great enemies to peace inhabit with us: viz, avarice, ambition, envy, anger and pride.---Italian poet Francis Petrarch (1304-1374).

*We love peace, but not peace at any price. There is a peace more destructive of the manhood of living man, than war is destructive of his body, Chains are worse than bayonets. ---English dramatist and editor Douglass Jerrold (1803-1857).

*The English poet and preacher John Donne (1572-1631) was correct when he wrote that no man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. Any man’s death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind…And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

*Every man is important in the sight of God---all the way from a bass black to a treble white, we are all significant on God’s keyboard.----American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968).

*Out of one blood, God created all nations to dwell upon the face of the Earth.---The Bible.

*Finally,  a short poem by a great poet whose lines have been set to music and sung often in Baptist churches:

           

Once to every man and nation

Comes the moment to decide,

In the strife of truth with falsehood,

For the good or evil side,

Then it is the brave man chooses,

While the coward stands aside,

Till the multitude make virtue

Of the faith they have denied.              

                                                                        ******

PUNCLINE: If we have no pace , it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.---MOTHER TERESA

                                                            ------------

G.R.Kanwal

6th July 2026

ODE TO THE CUCKOO

 

ODE TO THE CUCKOO

            The cuckoo is a lovely bird liked by all and sundry. It is one of the favourite birds of poets. There are several poems that praise it for its melodious  qualities.  

            According to dictionaries the cuckoo is a bird with a call that sounds like its name.

            There are also cuckoo clocks which have a small toy bird inside that comes out every hour and marks the hours with the sound like that of a cuckoo.

            The cuckoo is praised for its iconic, melodious call. Moreover, it is a natural harbinger of the spring season and new life.

            Culturally and mythologically, the cuckoo is deeply woven into ancient lore and Greek mythology.

            The loud, two-syllable song of the male cuckoo is one of the most recognized bird calls in the world.

            In English literature, there two poems addressed to the cuckoo. One is written  by William Wordsworth (1770-1850). It is titled To the Cuckoo. In one of the stanzas of this poem he writes :

            Thrice welcome, darling of the Spring!

            Even yet thou art to me

            No bird, but an invisible thing,

            A voice, a mystery;

            The same when in my school boy days

            I listened to that Cry

            Which made me look a thousand ways

            In bush, and tree, and sky.

           

            The second poem titled Ode to the Cuckoo is controversially claimed to have been written by a Scottish poet and minister John Logan (1748-1788). It was published in 1781. It is now reliably claimed to have been written by his college friend Michael Bruce who was also a poet. The full text of this poem is given below without any alteration.

 

“Hail, beauteous stranger of the grove!

Thou messenger of Spring!

Now Heaven repairs thy rural seat,

And woods thy welcome ring.

 

What time the daisy decks the green,

Thy certain voice we hear:

Hast thou a star to guide thy path,

Or mark the rolling year?

 

Delightful visitant! with thee

I hail the time of flowers,

And hear the sound of music sweet

From birds among the bowers.

 

The school-boy, wandering through the wood

To pull the primrose gay,

Starts, the new voice of Spring to hear,

And imitates thy lay.

 

What time the pea puts on the bloom,

Thou fli'st thy vocal vale,

An annual guest in other lands,

Another Spring to hail.

 

Sweet bird! thy bower is ever green,

Thy sky is ever clear;

Thou hast no sorrow in thy song,

No Winter in thy year!

 

O could I fly, I'd fly with thee!

We'd make, with joyful wing,

Our annual visit o'er the globe,

Companions of the Spring.”

                                                            ********

G.R. Kanwal

5^th June 2026

   https://grkanwal.blogspot.com/

https://www.facebook.com/gulsan.kanwal 

 

 

 

 

 

ASPIRATIONS OF YOUTH

 

 

                                                ASPIRATIONS OF YOUTH

            Here is an inspirational poem written by James Montgomery (1771-1854). He was a Scottish born poet, journalist, and hymnist.

            Orphaned at a young age, he spent most of his life in Sheffield England, where he became a prominent editor of Sheffield Iris .

            Montgomery was also a prolific writer of hymns. According to one estimate he authored 400 hymns.

            His most famous hymn is titled: Angels from the Realms of Glory.

            The poem quoted here expresses the continuously energetic and progressive aspirations of youth in any part of the world. They look forward, express their desire to climb higher and higher, toil deeper and deeper, perform their duty zealously, do their best win awards, , and please God and saints by their noblest character.

            The whole poem follows:

 

Higher , higher will we climb

Up the mount of glory,

That our names may live through time

In our country's story;

Happy, when her welfare calls,

He who conquers, he who falls.

 

Deeper, deeper let us toil

In the mines of knowledge;

Nature's wealth and learning's spoil

Win from school and college;

Delve we there for richer gems

Than the stars of diadems.

 

Onward, onward will we press

Through the path of duty;

Virtue is true happiness,

Excellence true beauty;

Minds are of supernal birth,

Let us make a heaven of earth.

 

Close and closer then we knit

Hearts and hands together,

Where our fire-side comforts sit

In the wildest weather;

Oh! they wander wide, who roam,

For the joys of life, from home.

 

Nearer, dearer bands of love

Draw our souls in union,

To our Father's house above,

To the saints communion;

Thither every hope ascend,

There may all our labours end.

                                                                        ******

G.R.Kanwal

4 July 2026

 

 

MYSTICAL LINES

 

MYSTICAL LINES

            Mystics are persons who try to become united with God through prayer and meditation. Due to this, almost spiritual way of  life, they attain knowledge of such important things as are beyond the reach of  normal human understanding.     

            What is mystical has spiritual qualities that are difficult to understand or to explain.

            A mystified person is one who is confused because he does not understand something.

            According to dictionary definitions mysticism is the belief that knowledge of God and of real truth can be found through prayer and meditation rather than through reason and the senses.             

            Some common synonyms of mystic and mystical are: spiritual, paranormal, transcendental, other-worldly, supernatural, and metaphysical.    

            Prominent mystical figures are:

            Adi Shankar (8^th Century), Kabir (15^th century), Mirabai (16^th century), Sri Ramakrishna (19 century).

            Among Sufi mystics may be included  Rumi (13h century) and Ibn Arabi (1165-1240).

            Osho (1931-1990) , born Chandra Mohan Jain, was also a great Hindu mystic.   

            Give below are some mystical quotes:

*Never surrender your hopes and dreams to the fateful limitations others have placed on their own lives

*Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.

*It always seems impossible until it’s done.

*To be or not to be, that is the question.

*Be the change that you wish to see.

*The notion that a cat has nine lives is based upon the belief that nine is a mystic number.

*Jump as high as you can. Dance as madly as you can.

*Sin is a technique of the pseudo-religions.

*Life is not going anywhere. It is just going for a morning walk.

*If it happens; it is good; if it does not happen, even better.

*We are all joined together with invisible threads. If I hurt you, I hurt myself, I am hurting you all.

*Man’s greatest need is to be needed.

*I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.---Kabir

*The heat of midnight tears will bring you to God.----Mirabai

                                                _____

PUNCHLINE  :Praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and sorrow come and go like the wind. To be happy, rest like a giant tree in the midst of them all.----LORD BUDDHA.

                                                *********

G. R. Kanwal

3^rd July 2026

 

OLD AGE

 

                                OLD AGE

            The English poet-dramatist William Shakespeare (1564-1616) ,finishes his poem Seven Ages of Man spoken by a cynical character Jaques in the play As You Like It with the following words about old age :

            The last scene of all,

            That ends this strange eventful history,

            Is second childishness, and mere oblivion (unconsciousness),

            Sans (without) teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

 

            It is a universal fact that nobody wants to die young. Old age, rather, extreme old age is prayed for. Elderly persons are respected just for their elderliness. Those who respect them are unconscious of their physical and mental health. They are even unaware of their loneliness. Most of the elderly persons are deserted by their kith and kin.  Some of them lack money for their daily food, a hired accommodation, and the medical bill.

 

            Look at the following popular quotes about old age.

1.     We hope to grow old, yet we fear old age; that is,---we are willing to live, and afraid to die.---French essayist and moralist Jean de la Bruyere (1645-1696).

2.     A comfortable old age is the reward of well-spent youth; instead of its introducing  dismal and melancholy prospects of decay, it should give us hopes of eternal youth in a better world.----American clergy and poet, Ray Palmer (1808-1887).

3.     As I approve of a youth that has something of the old man in him, so I am no less pleased with an old man that has something of the youth. He

 that follows this rule, may be old in body, but can never be so in mind.-------Roman orator Marcus Tullius (106-143 B.C.) .

4.     Some men are born old, and some never seem so. If we keep well and cheerful we are always young, and at last die in youth, even when years would count us old.----American theologian and editor Edwards Tryon (1809-1894).

5.     To know how to grow old is the master-work of wisdom, and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living.---Swiss philosopher Henri Frederic  Amiel (l821-1881).

 

To conclude  here is a most  famous quote by the Irish playwright and critic George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950):

 

            “Youth is wasted on the young.”                                                                                  ************

 G.R.Kanwal

2^nd July 2026

SOME EPIGRAMS

 

                SOME EPIGRAMS

            An epigram is defined as a short poem or phrase that express an idea in a clever or amusing way.

            It is a literary device.

            According to another definition: An epigram is “ a brief, clever, and witty statement that expresses a single idea in a surprising or satirical way. Often featuring irony or paradox, these memorable quotes are designed to make the reader stop and think.”

            Look at the following epigrammatic statements.

1.     To err is human, to forgive, divine.----Alexander Pope

2.     Brevity is the soul of wit. ---William Shakespeare

3.     It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.---Eleanor Roosevelt

4.     A church membership does not make a Christian any more than owning a piano makes a musician.----Douglas Meador

5.     A short poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge as an example of epigram:  

Sir, I admit your general rule,

That every poet is a fool,

But you yourself may serve to show it,

That every fool is not a poet.

 

Among epigram writers in English literature, the name of Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)  is at the top. He has to his credit a whole book of epigrams comprising about 250 pages. What follows is a short collection of his epigrams on various subjects.

 

(i)                   I can resist everything but temptation.

(ii)                  Men become old, but they never become good.

(iii)            When a man acts he is a puppet. When he describes he is a poet.

(iv)            The only way to behave to a woman is to make love to her, if she is pretty, and to some one else, if she is plain.

(v)                    Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

(vi)            The true artist is a man who believes absolutely in himself because he is absolutely himself.

(vii)          To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.

(viii)        Misfortunes one can endure ---they come from outside, they are accidents, but to suffer for one’s own faults ----ah! ---there is the sting of life.

(ix)                  Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.

(x)                    The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.

(xi)                  A mother’s love is very touching, of course, but is often curiously selfish.

(xii)          No man should have a secret from his wife ---she invariably finds it out.

(xiii)        There is so much else to do in the world but love.

(xiv)        I don’t like principles….I prefer prejudices.

(xv)          A mask tells us more than a face.

                                          ------------

PUNCHLINE: Zeal is fit only for wise men but is found mostly in fools.----Ancient Proverb

 

                                  *******

G. R. Kanwal

1^st July 2026  

 

SOME VALUABLE QUOTES

 

           

                                    SOME VALUABLE QUOTES

            Under this heading there are given below a number of short sentences with a good deal of wisdom. You need them for leading a joyous, peaceful, and faultless life. They are the essence of great men’s practical lives.  A single sentence may be the gist of many valuable books.

            Here is a very modest selection.

1.     A new broom sweeps well, but an old one is best for the corners.---An old saying.

2.     Everybody wants to live longer but nobody wants to grow old. JULES ROSTAND

3.     A danger foreseen is half avoided.---Ancient Proverb.

4.     Men who are smart enough to destroy the world shouldn’t be dumb enough to do it.---DAN KIDNEY

5.     An excess of courtesy is discourtesy.---Japanese Proverb

6.     I would be true, for there are those who trust me;

I would be pure, for there are those who care;

I would be strong, for there is much to suffer;

I would be brave, for there is much to dare.

I would be friend of all ---the poor, the friendless;

I would be giving and forget the gift;

I would be humble, for I know my weakness;

I would look up  ---and laugh ---and love ---and lift.----HOWARD ARNOLD WALTER (1883-1918). American author and hymn writer.

 

7.     It is common for the younger sort to lack discretion. ----William Shakespeare, English poet and dramatist (1564-1616).

 

NOTE: All the remaining quotes in this list are by William Shakespeare.

 

8.     Things may serve long, but not serve ever.

9.     O! how bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man’s eyes!

10.                          Be guided by others’ experience.

11.                        The purest spring is not so free from mud.

12.                        True nobility is exempt from fear.

13.                         Be not afraid of shadows.

14.                        It is sin to flatter.

15.                         Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.(A wit is mentally sharp , full of humour,  clever, and intelligent.)

16.                        Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly.

17.                        A friend should bear his friend’s infirmities.

18.                        Lord! We know what we are but know not what we may be.

19.                         We cannot but obey the powers above us.

20.                        Great men should drink with harness on their throats.

                                                ******

G.R.Kanwal

30 June 2026