WHO HATH A BOOK

 

          WHO HATH A BOOK

Who Hath a book

Has friends at hand

And gold and gear

At his command.

 

And rich estates,

If he but look,

Are held by him

Who hath a book.

 

Who hath a book

Has but to read

And he may be

A king indeed.

 

His kingdom is

His inglenook;

All this is his

Who hath a book.

 

            This short and simple poem is by the American poet and humorist Wilber Dick Nesbit (1871-1927). It is any inspirational poem which highlights the advantages of having a proper book to be read  for an great intended purpose.  The poem may also be taken as “Knowledge Is Power” quote when the poet says: Who hath a book/Has but to read/And he may be/A king indeed.

The kingdom of the reader of the book may be just an inglenook,  yet it is as grand as a big kingdom’    

 

Note: Inglenook stands for “a space on either side of a fireplace”

                                                                                                                                                                                                            ******

G.R.Kanwal

29^th November 2023

LIFE IS DUTY

 

          LIFE IS DUTY

In a very short poem “Duty”, American poet Ellen S.Hooper (1816-1841) says:

          I slept and dreamed that life was beauty: but that was wrong. It was a dream, not a reality. In the very second line, she changes her concept about life and writes: I woke and found that life was duty and finishes the poem with four more lines which read as:

           Was then the dream a shadowy lie?

          Toil on, sad heart, courageously,

          And thou shalt find thy dream to be

          A noonday light and truth to thee.

 

Life, then, is not a beautiful dream but noonday hard work.  It is not sleep but awakening. It is not beauty but duty, not restful sleep but  but perspiring toil.

                                                          ******

G.R.Kanwal

26 November 2023

         

OF DREAMS

 

                                     OF  DREAMS

Here are two short notes about dreams. One defines them. It says a dream can be described as a series of images, thoughts, desires, or emotions that pass through our mind. It’s a wonderful thing we can create in our imagination, most often related to our future. It’s something we wish and hope to achieve someday. It is aspirational other than tangible.

The other note claims that a dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work. All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.

American poet Langston Hughes (1901-1967) says:

I hold fast to dreams

For if dreams die  

Life is a broken-winged bird

That cannot fly.

 

Hold fast to dreams

For when dreams go

Life is a barren field

Frozen with snow

                                                ********

G.R.Kanwal

25 November 2023

COUNT THAT DAY LOST

 

COUNT THAT DAY LOST

Is a poem written by the famous British novelist and poet George Eliot (1819-1880) whose real name was Mary Ann Evans. She is more famous as a writer of novels like Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner, Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda. These novels show the psychological depth of her characters and her profound  knowledge of British rural life.

            “Count That Day Lost” is an inspirational poem. It inspires the readers to do something good everyday for others, otherwise treat that day as worse than lost. Elsewhere she says it is never too late to be what you might have been and asks : What do we live for, if not to make life less difficult for each other?”

            Here is the full text of the poem:

If you sit down at set of sun

And count the acts that you have done,

And, counting find

One self-denying deed, one word

That eased the heart of him who heard;

That fell like sunshine where it went---

Then you may count that day well spent.

 

But if, through all the livelong day,

You’ve cheered no heart, by yea or nay---

If, through it all

You’ve nothing done that you can trace

That brought the sunshine to one face----

No act most small

That helped some soul and nothing cost----

Then count that day as worse than lost.

                                    ********

G.R.Kanwal

24^th November 2023

 

 

NOTHING IS PERMANENT

 

NOTHING IS PERMANENT

            Acharya Rajneesh, later known as Osho, was Indian godman and philosopher (1931-1990).  According to him nothing is permanent. “For example, every child has been told in a thousand and one ways that love is eternal, once you love a person, you love the person always. If you love a person later on you feel that you don’t love, it only means you never loved the person in the first place. Now this is a very dangerous idea, It is giving you an idea of a permanent love and in life nothing is permanent… the flowers blossom in the morning and by the evening  they are gone.  Life is a continuous flux; everything is changing, moving. Nothing is static, nothing is permanent.”

Isn’t it true? Can it bear contradiction? Isn’t everything changing continuously as a law of eternal nature?

                                                            *******

G.R.Kanwal

23 November 2923   

 

GOD IS EVERYWHERE

 

                GOD IS  EVERYWHERE

The following lines under the title “God Is Everywhere” have been extracted by me from a long poem “Song of Myself” written by the American poet and essayist Walt Whitman (1819-1892).

            “Why should I wish to see God better than this day? I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then,/In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass,/I find letters from God dropt in the street , and every one is sign’d by God’s name,/And I leave them where they are, for I know that wheresoev’er I go, others will punctually come for ever and ever.“

                                                            ********

G.R.Kanwal

22^nd November 2023

 

 

ONENESS OF GOD

 

          ONENESS OF GOD

GOD is one but He has many names. Some of them are: Almighty, Allah, Bhagwan, Ishwar, Parmeshwar, Brahma, Creator, Deity, Divine Being, Lord God, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Supreme Being, Holy One, the First Cause, etc.

According to Gandhiji,  there is only one God for us all, whether we find Him through Quran, Bible, Zend Avesta. Talmud or Gita, and He is the God of Truth and Love.

God is certainly one. He has no second. He is unfathomable, unknowable, and unknown to the vast majority of mankind. He is everywhere. He sees without eyes, and hears without ears. He is formless and indivisible. He is uncreate, has no father, mother or child, and yet He allows Himself to be worshipped as father, mother, wife and child. He allows Himself even to be worshipped as stock and stone, although He is none of these things. (Source: Young India: September 25, 1924.

                                                          ******

G.R.Kanwal

19^th November 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LITTLE THINGS

 

                   LITTLE THINGS

“LITTLE THINGS” is a small, indeed a very small, inspirational  poem, by  an American educator, poet, author and editor (1823-1908).  She wrote many small poems for children and got them published. They are all inspirational. Little Things reads as follows:

Little drops of water,

Little grains of sand,   

Make the mighty ocean

And the pleasant land.

 

Thus the little minutes,

Humble though they be,

Make the mighty ages

Of eternity.

          The poem shows the greatness of small things. One little drop of water may not mean much but many drops of water mean a big ocean. One grain of sand may be nothing but many grains of sand added together make a land. Bigness is a multiplication of smallness.

 

          One small act of kindness when repeated becomes a great act of kindness. Thus, smallness has the potentiality of greatness. In fact, greatness is impossible without the enlargement of littleness.  So let us go on doing small acts of kindness as frequently as possible.

 

                                                ******

 

G. R. Kanwal

18^th November 2023   

 

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU SAID

 

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU SAID

“One of the principles which Gandhiji taught us is the unity of the people of India, whether they live in different States, or whether they follow different religions, or whether they speak different languages.

            Sitting here I see you have put up an illuminated representation of a Hindu temple, a Muslim mosque and a Christian church ---all together. That is a symbol of religious unity, and I congratulate you on having put up this symbol here. We have laid down that every citizen, whether he is a Hindu or Muslim or Christian or Jew or Jain or Buddhist or whether he has no religion at all, has equal rights. In the political sphere we are the citizens of India and we have to work together. Any person who creates difficulties in the name of State or religion or language does an ill-service to India and  he does an ill-service to his own State or religion or language,

            “Remember that everything that separates us or creates conflict amongst us is bad. Everything that unites us and brings us together is good. Apply that test to whatever problem you have. It is a good test.”

            The above-quoted speech, according to Thoughts of Jawahalal Nehru, a 1989 centenary publication, was delivered at Dindigul, on 8 December 1957. I believe that its socio-political validity is eternal.

            Jawaharlal Nehru, a freedom-fighter, and later the first Prime Minister of free India from 1947 to 1964, was born on 14 November 1989 at Allahabad, now  renamed as Prayagraj. He died in New Delhi on 27 May 1964 . To put it very briefly, he was a world statesman, a  secular humanist and also a great writer.

                                                            *******

G.R.Kanwal

15^th November 2023

 

SOME QUOTES ON LIGHT

 

 

 

                             SOME QUOTES ON LIGHT

1.     As one lamp lights another, nor grows less, so nobleness enkindleth nobleness. American poet James Russell Lowell (1819-18910)

2.     Hail! Holy light , of heaven, first born! English poet John Milton (1608-1674).

3.     The first creation of God, in the works of the days, was the light of sense; the last was the light of reason; and his Sabbath work ever since, is the illumination of the spirit. English writer Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

4.     Light is the symbol of truth.  Scottish poet (1700-1748)

5.     Light is the shadow of God. Greek philosopher Plato (5^th century BCE)

6.     Walk boldly and wisely in the light thou hast; there is a hand above will help thee on. American journalist Gamaliel Bailey (1807-1859)

G.R.Kanwal

12^th November 2023

 

TODAY

 

          TODAY

“TODAY” is the title of the poem which is given below and is written by the British historian, essayist and philosopher (1795-1881). Among his half a dozen famous books, one is Heroes and Hero-worship. According to him,  all history is the making of great persons , gifted with supreme power of vision, divine inspiration, and memorable action.

In the poem “Today” he wants the readers to make every day a day of some useful achievement.

The following is the full text:

 “So here hath been dawning

Another blue day:

Think, wilt thou let it

Slip useless away?

 

Out of Eternity

This new day was born;

Into Eternity,

At night, will return.

 

Behold it aforetime

No eye ever did;

So soon it forever

From all eyes is hid.

 

Here hath been dawning

Another blue day:

Think, wilt thou let it

Slip useless away?

                                                                                                                                                                                                            ********

G.R.Kanwal

10^th November 2023

LET IT BE FORGOTTEN

 

LET IT BE FORGOTTEN

“Let It Be Forgotten” is a short poem by American poet Sar Teasdale . She was born on August 8, 1884 at St. Louis Missouri and died on January 29, 1933 in  New York.  She was a lyrics writer, especially personal, in classical simplicity and modest sharpness.

 

Her first lyric was published in1907. She shifted to New York in 1916, won Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Another prize won by her was of the Poetry Society of America for her anthology Love Songs(1917.)

 

Her style became increasingly subtle and terse.

Unfortunately, her marriage broke down in 1929. Thereafter, she became a chronic invalid  and died in 1933.

  “Let it be forgotten” which is given below is the result of her personal unhappy experiences , particularly the death of her lover.

The text of the poem reads as  follows:  

“Let it be forgotten,, as a flower is forgotten,

Forgotten as a fire that once was singing gold,

Let it be forgotten for ever and ever,

Time is a kind friend, and will make us old.

 

If anyone asks, say it was forgotten

Long and long ago,

As a flower, as a fire, as a hushed footfall

In a long-forgotten snow.”

 

The theme of the poem is about remembering or forgetting  past events. Sara is in favour of forgetting them, for many of them are sad, bitter, painful and reminiscent of unhappy events. Even otherwise the only dependable time is the present time. This, too, becomes past in the twinkling of an eye.  Future is totally uncertain. It comes, if it does come at all, as present and immediately becomes past.

                                      ******

G.R.Kanwal

9^th November 2023

 

 

ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL

 

ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL

          ‘ALL Things Bright And Beautifu” is a hymn or a psalm written by Cecil Francis Alexander.  She was an Irish poetess (1818-1895) .  She began writing hymns  for children when she herself was a child. According to some biographers she wrote about 400 hymns in which she praised    God as a beautiful creator of every bright and beautiful thing. According to her belief and faith:

“All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all.              

 

            Each little flower that opens,

            Each little bird that sings,

            He made their glowing colours

He made their tiny wings.

 

The purple-headed mountain,

The river running by,

The sunset, and the morning

That brightens up the sky,

 

The cold wind in the winter,

The pleasant summer sun,

The ripe fruits in the garden,

He made them every one.

 

The tall trees in the greenwood,

The meadows where we play.

The rushes by the water,

We gather every day.

 

He gave us eyes to see them,

And lips that we might tell

How great is God Almighty,

Who has made all things well.

 

            Though it is a hymn to be recited by children in any kind of gathering, It is equally appropriate for adults’ recitation.

            They, too, can sing: “All things bright and beautiful,/All creatures great and small,/All things wise and wonderful/The Lord God made them all.”                                              *******

G.R.Kanwal

7th November 2023   

SUCCESS IS COUNTED SWEETEST

 

SUCCESS IS COUNTED SWEETEST

“Success Is Counted Sweetest” is a short poem by the American poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886).  She was the daughter of Edward Dickinson and was not so famous during her life time as she became so after her death. Today she is considered as a great poet. Though she had several love affairs, she remained un-married.

“Success is Counted Sweetest” is based on the philosophy of opposites. What you have is less enjoyable than what you wanted to have but could not get. Success is counted sweetest by those who have faced many failures. Sweetness cannot be appreciated without experiencing bitterness.  Easy success is joyless.  Joyful success comes after many failures. “Success is counted sweetest /By those who never succeed.”

The complete poem reads as follows:

Success is counted sweetest

By those who ne’er succeed.

To comprehend a nectar

Requires sorest need.       

 

Not one of all the people host

Who took the flag today

Can tell the definition

So clear of victory.

 

As he, defeated, dying,

On whose forbidden ear

The distant strains of triumph

Break, agonized and clear.

                                                            *********

G.R.Kanwal

4^th November 2023          

GOD IS OMNIPRESENT

 

GOD IS OMNIPRESENT

What follows is a short extract from the American poet Walt Whitman’s long poem “Song of Myself”. Whitman was a people’s poet, essayist and journalist. He was born on 31 May 1819 and died on 26 March 1892. As a poet he was very popular, especially through his collection of poems “Leaves of Grass.”  He was both a realist and transcendentalist.

Going by the theme and the language of the extract, the title given by me is both suitable and appropriate.  The text of the extract reads as given below:

 “And I say to mankind, Be not curious about God,

For I who am curious about each am not curious about God,

(No array of terms can say how much I am at peace about God and about death.)    

I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least,

Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself.

Why should I wish to see God better than this day?

I see something of God each hour of the twenty- four, and each moment then,

In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass,

I find letters from God dropt in the street, and every one is sign’d by God’s name.

And I leave them where they are, for I know  wheresoe’er I go

Others will punctually come for ever and ever.

                                    *******

G.R.Kanwal

3^rd October 2023

WALT WHITMAN

 

WALT WHITMAN

          If you ask me who was Walt Whitman, you will find me short of words.  I will say that he was an American poet and essayist (1819 – 1892).  But I won’t be able to tell you the type of poet he was.  Was he a classical or romantic poet , or was he a realist or transcendentalist. His poetry does not accept a standard title.  It is something unique. We should be thankful to him that he has described himself as a poet in the following words.

            “I am the poet of the Body and I am the poet of the Soul,

            The pleasures of heaven are with me and the pains of hell are with me.

            The first I graft and increase upon myself, the latter I translate into a new    tongue.       

             I am the poet of the woman the same as the man,

And I say it is great to be a woman as to be a man,

And I say there is nothing greater than the mother of men.”

 

            How to classify a poet of this self-description? Impossible! Enough to say he is a great poet, a poet of the whole world and of all mankind.  He is not a poet who writes simple poems. He is one who writes the soul of everything that is poetic.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    *********

G.R.Kanwal

2^nd November 2023

 

A CREED

 

A  CREED

There is a destiny that makes us brothers;

None goes his way alone:

All that we send into the lives of others

Comes back into our own.

 

I care not what his temples or his creeds,

One thing holds firm and fast----

That into his fateful heap of days and deeds

The soul of ma is cast.

 

This short poem is by the American poet Edwin Markham (1852-1940). “He was elected country superintendent of schools in 1879 and received the principalship of the Tompkins Observation School in Oakland in 1890.”His real name was Charles Edward Anson Markham. He was also a poet and lecturer. Some of his best quotes are (1) For all our days be prepared and meet them ever alike. (2) When you are the anvil, bear –  when you are the hammer, strike. (3) It is better to rust out than wear out.

 

“A Creed” is a system of Markham’s Christian beliefs and opinions. Of the two stanzas, the first one clicks more forcefully with the words : “There is a destiny that makes us brothers;/None goes his way alone/All that we send into the lives of others/Comes back into our own.”

                                                                        *********

G.R.Kanwal

1^st November 2023