RING 0UT WILD BELLS

 

                                RING 0UT WILD BELLS

          This night is going to be end of year 2025. People will be happy. They will ring  loudest  bells to ring out the evils of the dying year which were like the grief that sapped the mind, the feud of rich and poor, the ancient forms of party strife, the ignoble  manners of life, the  false pride in place and blood , the unjust laws, the want, the care, the sin, the faithless coldness of days and nights , the narrowing lust of gold, the desire for war, and the mournful poems which the poet himself.  

            But simultaneously they will ring in the powerful bells for the New Year that will bring about a riddance from all these bitter features of the socio-political and religious  life.

            Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892), the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom who died of flue, wrote a bit long poem “Ring Out Wild Bells.”

            Here are an extracted stanza and some single lines:

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light:

The year is dying in the night;

Ring out wild bells, and let him die.

 

Note: (The year is here personified as a critical sick man.)

 

Ring out ancient forms of party strife….

Ring out the want, the care the sin….

Ring out false pride in place and blood….

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold

Ring out the darkness of the land.

Ring out the feud of rich and poor,

Ring in the common love of good.  

Ring out many-changing falsehoods.

Ring in the love of truth and right…

Ring in the valiant man and free.

The larger heart, the kindlier hand;

 

            A literary critic rightly said that this poem is a discourse on new beginning – a fresh start for mankind as a whole, and individuals in particular. There is a call for Truth in this poem.  

                                                *******

G.R.Kanwal

31 December 2025

MAN OF GOD

 

                MAN OF GOD       

            The universe as we know it is the creation of God whose attributes are too many to be numbered. All men of all religions and faiths, beliefs and disbeliefs, are His children. There is , however,  a difference between men and men.. Some men get absorbed in the temptations of the world and forget  God most of the time.

            Man is never a self-ruler. He is never independent of God’s assistance. In sickness and misfortune, he has to direct his mind towards God for necessary help to regain normalcy. Those men who are devoted to God are substantially men of God and have specific qualities.

            Quoted below is a  bunch of poetic lines in which the Persian mystic and  poet Jalal al- Din Muhammad Rumi (1207-1273) says that a man who transcends discursive knowledge and attains to Divine knowledge is the ‘Man of God,’ and the perfect man. Such a man assimilates God himself but does not lose his own individuality.

            The English version the of Persian lines that follow is by the writer and translator R.A.Nicholson (1868-1945).

“The man of God is drunken without wine,

The man  of God is full without meet     

The man of God is distraught and bewildered,

The man of God has no food or sleep.

The man of God is a king ‘neath dervish cloak,

The man of God is a treasure in a ruin.

The man of God is not of air and earth,

The man of God is not of fire and water.

The man of God is a boundless sea,

The man of God rains pearls without a cloud.

The man of God hath hundred moons and skies,

The man of God hath hundred suns.

The man of God is made wise by the Truth,

The man of God is not learned from book.

The man of God is beyond infidelity and religion.

To the man of God right and wrong are alike.

The man of God has ridden away from from Not-being.

The man of God is gloriously attended.

The man of God is concealed, Shamsi Din,

The man of God do thou seek and find.

                      -------

Note: Shamsi means “of the sun, sunny, or solar”. The friend of Rumi was also called Shams.

                                                *******

G.R.Kanwal

30 December 2025

SOME POPULAR ONE-LINERS

 

          SOME POPULAR ONE-LINERS  

                         By British Poet and Playwright

                           WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616)

1.     An act has three branches: it is to act, to do, and to perform.

2.     Men shut their doors against a setting sun.

3.     An old man is twice a child.

4.     Men in rage strike those that wish them best.

5.     One may smile, and smile, and be a villain.

6.     Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold.

7.     Do wrong to none.

8.     Abstinence engenders maladies.

9.     Pitchers have ears.

10.                         A giving hand, though foul, shall have fair praise.

11.                         It is a wise father that knows his own child.

12.                          Conscience does make cowards of us all.

13.                          Men are April when they woo, December when they wed.

14.                          Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

15.                          Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep.

16.                          He thinks too much –such men are dangerous.

17.                          The empty vessel makes the greatest sound.

18.                           Corruption wins not more than honesty.

19.                           Defer no time, delays have dangerous ends.

20.                           In delay there is no plenty.

21.                           Let your own discretion be your tutor.

22.                           A dream itself is but a shadow,

23.                           Dreamers often lie.

24.                           Allow not nature more than nature needs.

25.                           Mar not the thing that cannot be amended.

                                                ******

G.R.Kanwal

29 December 2025  

                                                 

RALPH WALDO EMERSON

 

          RALPH WALDO EMERSON

            Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher and poet. He was born in Boston on 25 May 1803 and died in Concord on  27April 1882.                                 

            He  was known as one of the great transcendentalists who believed in the ultimate properties of being that exist beyond the properties of the material world. Nowadays these properties stand for truth, unity, beauty and goodness.

            His philosophy being all-inclusive sought to reconcile all contraries. According to him:

 

“There is one soul

It is related to the world.

Art is its action thereon.

Science finds its methods.

Literature is its record.

Religion is the emotion of reverence that it inspires.

Ethics is the soul illustrated in human life.

Society is the finding of this soul by individuals in each other.

Traders are the learning of the soul in nature by labour.

Politics is the activity of the soul illustrated in power.

Manners are silent and mediate expressions of soul. “

 

            In his famous essay “The Oversoul”, Emerson says:

The soul in man is not an organ, but animates and exercises all organs. It is not a faculty but a light; it is not the intellect or the will, but the master of the intellect and the will, is the background of  our being, in which they lie –an immensity not possessed and that cannot be possessed.                         

                       

            Emerson’s views about the immortality of the soul are the same as we find them in oriental  scriptures, especially the Bhagavadgita.

 

            ”Never the spirit was born; the spirit shall cease to be never. Never was time it was not; End and Beginning are dreams!  Birthless and deathless and changeless remaineth the spirit for ever: Death hath not touched it at all; dead though the house of it seems!

 

            Finally, here are his two famous quotes:

 

1.     Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising up every time we fall.

2.     Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air.

 

                                                ********

G.R.Kanwal

28 December 2025.

THE LOOM OF TIME

 

THE LOOM OF TIME   

            “THE LOOM OF TIME” is an anonymous poem written metaphorically about human life from beginning to end as planned by God but not spelled out as to how it will complete its destined course.

            The poem consists of seven stanzas of four lines each. The language is  simple; the theme  most attractive; and the overall poetic impression is

highly admirable.  It is one of the best loved poems in English poetry.  

 

               Here are all the seven stanzas. The first line of each one begins with a part of the overall theme.

 

“Man’s life is laid in the loom of time

To a pattern he does not see,

While the weavers work and the shuttles fly

Till the dawn of eternity.

 

Some shuttles are filled with colourful threads

And some with threads of gold,

While often but the darker hues

Are all that they may hold.

 

But the weaver watches with skillful eye

Each shuttle fly to and fro,

And see the pattern so deftly wrought

As the loom moves sure and slow.

 

God surely planned the pattern;

Each thread, the dark and fair,

Is chosen by His master skill

And placed in the web with care.

 

He only knows its beauty,

And guides the shuttles which hold

The threads so unattractive,

As well as the threads of gold.

 

Not till each loom is silent,

And the shuttles cease to fly,

Shall God reveal the pattern

And explain the reason why.

 

The dark threads were as needful

In the weaver’s skillful hand

As the threads of gold and silver

For the pattern which He planned.

 

                                    ********

G.R.Kanwal

26 December 2025          

 

             

 

 

SHORT POEMS WITH PRECIOUS THOUGHTS

 

SHORT POEMS WITH PRECIOUS THOUGHTS

            Whereas long poems can be abbreviated into short ones, short poems can be expanded into long ones.

            However, short compositions are always more impressive than long ones. They convey the soul of a central idea , not its heavily worded flesh. Moreover,  they take less time but do not give less  poetic pleasure.    

            Here are some three  poems.  All of them are anonymous but not insignificant.

1.     CHARITY.

There is so much good in the worst of us,

And so much bad in the best of us,

That it ill  behoves any of us

To find fault with the rest of us.            

 

2.      ALWAYS FINISH.

If a task is once begun

Never leave it till it’s done,

Be the labour great or small,

Do it well or not at all.

 

3.      I SHALL NOT PASS THIS WAY AGAIN

 

  Through this toilsome world, alas !

   Once and only once I pass;

   If a kindness I may show,

   If a good deed I may do

   To a suffering fellow man,

    Let me do it while I can.

    No delay, for it is plain

    I shall not pass this way again i.

                                    ******

G..Kanwal

25 December 2025             

 

THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT

 

 

          THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT

            On this Christmas Day Eve, let us quote a part of the “Sermon on the Mount” in which Lord Jesus outlined a path to righteous living through love, humility, mercy, and forgiveness.

            The sermon which consists of a few parts is eternal. It deserves not only to be remembered but also practiced every moment of our life.

            Here are a few details:

1.     Beatitudes:  Blessings for the poor in spirit, mourners, meek, merciful , pure in heart , peacemakers, and the persecuted, in God’s kingdom.

2.     Teachings:  How best you are, when you suffer insults and persecution and every kind of calumny for my sake. Accept it with gladness and exultation, for you have a rich reward in heaven.

3.     You are salt to the world. And if salt becomes tasteless, how is its saltness to be restored?

4.     Do not suppose that I have come to abolish the Law and the prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to complete.

5.     If your right eye leads you astray, tear it out and fling it away; it is better for you to lose one.   

 

6.     You have learned that they were told, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” But what I tell you is this: Do not set yourself against the man who wrongs you. If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn and offer him your left.

"Our father in heaven

Thy name be hallowed;

  Thy kingdom come

Thy will be done,

On earth as in heaven.         

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us the wrong we have done,

As we have forgiven those who have wronged us.

And do not bring us to test,

But save us from the evil one.

                                 ********

G. R. Kanwal

24 December 2025

MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS

 

          MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS       

1.     One learned man is harder on the devil, than a thousand worshippers.

2.     God is gentle and loveth gentleness.

3.     Give the labourer his wage before his perspiration be dry.

4.     The God who created this world and everything in it, and who is Lord of heaven and earth does not live in shrines made by man.

5.     Be always joyful; pray continually; give thanks whatever happens.

6.     Speak, move, act in peace, as if you were in prayer.

7.     Deliberate with caution, but act with decision and promptness.

8.     To be vain of one’s rank or place, is to show that one is below it.

9.     Every man is his own greatest dupe.

10.                         To whom can riches give repute, or trust, content or pleasure, but the good and the just?

11.                         Monotony is the awful reward of the careful.

12.                         As every thread og gold is valuable, so is every moment of time.

13.                         Doubt whom you will, but never doubt yourself.

14.                         A page digested is beter than a volume hurriedly read.

15.                         In all things reason should prevail; it is quite another thing to be stiff, than to be steady in an opinion.

16.                          Nothing is so infectious as example.

17.                          There is not a moment without some duty.

18.                         Drunkenness is nothing but a voluntary madness.

19.                         Chance generally favours the prudent.

20.                         Amusement to an observing mind is study.

                             **********

G.R.Kanwal

23 December 2025                                  

 

 

THE COMMON ROAD

 

                THE COMMON ROAD  

“THE COMMON ROAD ” is the title of several poems written by famous poets. They show not only their ambition, character, life’s purpose, interest in worldly or divine activities but also inspire other people to reshape their likes and dislikes.

            The inspirational poem which I have recently read is titled “THE COMMON ROAD” written by the American poet Silas H. Perkins (!832-1911).

             The poem is in first person, not very long, but very interesting. The language is quite simple as if it were written for common readers and growing up children.

            Here are a few selected lines:

The poem begins with the lines:

 

“ I Want to travel the common road

With a great crowd surging by”

 

And then by skipping a few lines says:

 

“I want to be one of the common herd,

Not in a sheltered way

Want to be thrilled, want to be stirred

By the great crowd day by day;

To glimpse the restful valleys deep,

To toil up the rugged hill.

 

            As if it were not enough as a traveller, the poet adds:

  

I want to laugh with a common man

Wherever he chance to be,

I want to lend a helping hand

Over the rough and steep

To a child too young to understand---

I want to live and work and plan

With the great crowd surging by,

To mingle the with common man,

No better and worse than I.

                        ……

There is much to learn from this poem particularly for those  people who ask:

What And How Should We Live For?.                         

                                                                ********

G.R.Kanwal

22 December 2025

A BEST LOVED POEM

 

A BEST LOVED POEM   

            A best loved poem is one which expresses noblest thoughts and also binds you with God Almighty. The title of the poem which inspired me today is titled : Lord, Make A Regular Man Out Of Me. This is about the  new year’s wishes of a poet known as Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959) . He was a British-born  U.S. writer who became popular due to his poems like The Bacholor’s Soliloquy, Father, Hard Luck, and Don’t Quit.

            The poem given below is about his New Year’s wishes. He wants to  become  an occasional but a regular man with improved qualities ----as braver and bolder, a bit finer but less whiner, a bit fairer and squarer in the time to come, and lastly a bit truer, less of the wisher and more of the doer.

            Here is the full poem:

This I would like to be –braver and bolder,

Just a bit wiser because I am older,

Just a bit kinder to those I may meet,

Just a bit manlier taking defeat;

This for the New Year my wish and my plea---

Lord, make a regular man out of me.

                           

This I would like to be ----just a bit finer

More of a smiler and less of a whiner,

Just a bit quicker to stretch to stretch out my hand

Helping another who struggling to stand

This is my prayer for the New Year to be,

Lord, make a regular man out of me.

 

This I would like to be ----just a bit fairer,

Just a bit better, and just a bit squarer

Not quite so ready to censure and and blame,

Quicker to help every man in the game,

Not quite so eager men’s failings to see,

Lord, make a regular man out of me.

This I would like to be ---just a bit truer,

Less of the wisher and more of the doer,

Broader and bigger, more willing to give,

Living and helping my neighbor to live!

This for the New Year my prayer and my plea ---

Lord, make a regular man out of me.

                                                ******

G.R.Kanwal

21 December 2025