THE TRUE BEAUTY

 

THE TRUE BEAUTY

            “THE TRUE BEAUTY” is the title of a very short poem written by the English poet Thomas  Carew (1595 –22 March 1640). He was born in West Wickham, United Kingdom, and died in London.  By occupation, he  was  one of the four cavalier poets, the remaining three being Robert Herrick, Richard Lovelace and Sir John Suckling  who were courtiers.   They all supported King Charles 1 during the English Civil War (1642-1651). The king himself took interest in fine arts and supported poets. His opponents were called Roundheads who supported Parliament.

                Cavalier poets celebrated “beauty, love, nature, sensuality, drinking, good fellowship, honour and social life.” For them each day of life was most important, as if it was the last day , and had to be enjoyed as much as possible.

                     Thomas Carew’s  poem reads as follows:

 THE TRUE BEAUTY

He that loves a rosy cheek

Or a coral lip admires

Or from star-like eyes doth seek

Fuel to maintain his fires;

As old Time makes these decay,

So his flames must waste away.

 

But a smooth and steadfast mind,

Gentle thoughts and calm desires,

Hearts with equal love combined,

Kindle never-dying fires-----

Where these are not, I despise

Lovely cheeks or lips or eyes.

 

                                   *********

G. R. Kanwal

30.06.2023

 

A CHRISTIAN PRAYER

 

                       A CHRISTIAN PRAYER          

Given below is a Christian prayer which is just like other prayers carried in various sacred books of the world. It is quoted by Dr. Bhagavan Das in his book The Essential Unity of All Religions published in 1936.

According to several biographical sources Dr. Bhagavan Das was an Indian Theosophist and a distinguished public figure. He worked for some time in the Central Legislative Assembly of British India. He was, however, an advocate of Indian freedom from British rule. He was the  founder of  Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith. As an eminent scholar, he had received many educational and literary degrees. The Government of India awarded him Bharat Ratna in 1958 for his contributions to education, philosophy and social reform. Born in Benares on 12 January 1869, he passed away on 18 September 1958.

The Christian Prayer mentioned above reads as follows:

     “Lead me, O Lord, in Thy righteousness. Make Thy Way straight before my face. Cleanse Thou me from secret faults. Keep back Thy servant from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

         Search me, O God!, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me; and lead me in the Way Everlasting.

          Show me Thy Ways , O Lord ! Teach me Thy Paths ; and lead me in Thy Truth; Thou art the God of my Salvation. Open Thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law. Quicken Thou me according to Thy Word. Remove from me the way of lying. (Source: Bible; Old Testament; Psalms.)”

                                                            *******

G.R.Kanwal

29. 6. 2023

              

REMEMBER

 

                REMEMBER

In a great poem, which is destined to become classic, the English poet  James Falconer Kirkup (1918-2009) advises us to remember that “NO MEN ARE FOREIGN”, by which he means that all human beings are alike.  It is another matter they live in different countries, follow  different  religions, speak different languages and wear different uniforms. Despite these differences, they are our brothers. The land they walk upon is earth like our own and their harvests are subject to the same effects of air, water and sunshine as ours . They ,too, are fed by peaceful harvests and starved by war’s long winter. Physically , too, they resemble us, work like us and win hearts by love.

                 With these similarities, says Kirkup, there should be absolutely no reason for disunity and hate among men of different lands. He adds:

“Let us remember, whenever we are told

                          To hate our brothers, it is ourselves

                           That we shall dispossess, betray. Condemn.

                    

                     Also remember: “We who take arms against each other, it is the human earth we defile.  Our hells of fire and dust outrage the innocence of air that is everywhere our own.”

 

                        Kirkup concludes his poem with the message: “No Men Are Foreign, And No Countries Strange.”  

                      

                                                                        ********

G.R.Kanwal

28.6.2023                   

 

 

 

THE OLD FAMILIAR FACES

 

THE OLD FAMILIAR FACES

The other day I had a call from a friend who is now more than 100 and a  few months old. He is  a retired army officer and also an Urdu poet of some merit and that is how he came into contact with us being a member of our circle of poets. It was long ago.  The circle is still  alive and meeting on a Sunday every month but the friend concerned has ceased to participate in its programmes.  His other- day call had a special purpose and that was he wanted to see the faces of old familiar poets  in the  type of those monthly meets in which he used to participate . I promised to fulfil his request as soon as possible and in the best possible manner.

                This incident which has deep sychological significance of human unions and separations, especially , during the periods of childhood and boyhood , reminded me of the best-known poem of the English poet Charles Lamb (1775-1834).

                Lamb was not a regular poet  He was a great essayist. He wrote only three or four poems, the one mentioned here is very famous among the young and the old.

                Here is the full text of the poem:

The Old Familiar Faces

I have had playmates. I have had companions

In my days of childhood, in my joyful school-days;

All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.

 

I have been laughing, I have been carousing,

Drinking late, sitting late, with my bosom cronies;

All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.

 

I loved a love once, fairest among women:

Closed are her doors on me, I must not see her ---

All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.

 

I have a friend, a kinder friend has no man;

Like an ingrate, I left my friend abruptly;

Left him, to muse on the old familiar faces.

 

Ghost-like I paced round the haunts of my childhood,

Earth seem’d a desert I was bound to traverse,

Seeking to find the old familiar faces.

 

Friend of my bosom, though more than a brother,

Why wert not though born in my father’s dwelling

?

So might we talk of the old familiar faces.

 

How some they have died , and some they have left me,

And some are taken from me; all are departed;

All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.

 

G.R.Kanwal                                                         *******

22^nd June 2023