AN ANONYMOUS POEM

 

AN ANONYMOUS POEM

            An anonymous poem does not reveal the name of its poet. It may be  short or long, old or new but it is always meaningful, and  has some valuable idea to communicate.

            Anonymous writings can be intentionally anonymous.  It is for some personal or social reason that the writer does not want to reveal his/her identity.

            Positive reasons for anonymity are classified as : Protecting privacy, safety, whistleblowing, dissent or  non-expression of  provocative  views on some sensitive r topic.

              There are however thousands of literary, social, historical, religious, moral and aesthetical  compositions which are  in circulation synonymously  because of the noble values which they propagate.

            The anonymous poem given below is titled HAPPINESS. It tells the readers ten easy ways that lead to happiness. They are:

Just to be tender, just to be true:

Just to be glad the whole day through;

Just to be merciful, just to be mild;

Just to be trustful as a child:

Just to be gentle and kind and sweet;

Just to be helpful with willing feet;

Just to be cheery when things go wrong;

Just to drive sadness away with a song;

Whether the way is dark or bright,

Just to be loyal to God and right !   

                                                *******

G.R.Kanwal

18 December 2025

 

 

DON’T FORGET

 

                DON’T FORGET

            Don’t forget that this world is a place of suffering.

            Lord Buddha finally came to this conclusion that suffering inescapable. It has a cause. Get over the  cause and suffering will vanish.

            The main cause is wrong thinking, wrong doing,  wrong earning , wrong, living, wrong contemplation, etc.

            To put it briefly suffering is due to wrong actions, to get rid of it,  all the  wrong actions have to be abandoned forever. This is  however not  possible for everybody. Only he who has become fully enlightened about the roots of suffering and  has attained the will to destroy them for ever can eternally  stop the cycle of birth and death .

            Suffering is also a purifier. It refines the mind and keeps enlightening the soul.

            There is no person in the world who does not yearn for happiness. The English novelist and poet Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) said in his novel The Mayor of Casterbrdge “Happiness was but an occasional episode in a general drama of pain. “

            Here are some famous quotes about happiness:

*Happiness can be built only on virtue, and must of necessity have truth for its foundation.  

**Happiness is neither within us only, or without us; it is the union of ourselves with God.

Happiness consists in the attainment  of our desires, and in our having only right desires.

****The secret of happiness is renunciation, ---.

*****Happiness is ot the end of life; character is.

                        ******

G.R.Kanwal

17 December 2025

          

MY FAVOURITE HYMN

 

 

MY FAVOURITE HYMN

        Hymns are expressions of gratitude to God for all the gifts and mercies which we receive from Him throughout our life. We find them in every religion and they are recited not only on special occasions but also every morning and evening. They are like the performance of a sacred duty. After chanting a hymn we feel calm and quiet and our heart beats more rhythmically  than ever before.     

        Some hymns written by priests, poets and general devotees are short , while others are long. They are sung individually as well as collectively. Music is also considered a part of the hymn being recited.

        Given  below is a famous poem titled “A HYMN”. It is written by the English poet, wit and essayist Joseph Addison (1672-1719). We find in it the poet’s gratitude to God for all His gifts and mercies.

                THE FULL TEXT

When all Thy mercies, O my God,
My rising soul surveys,
Transported with the view, I’m lost
In wonder, love and praise.

Thy Providence my life sustained,
And all my wants redressed,
While in the silent womb I lay,
And hung upon the breast.

To all my weak complaints and cries
Thy mercy lent an ear,
Ere yet my feeble thoughts had learned
To form themselves in prayer.

Unnumbered comforts to my soul
Thy tender care bestowed,
Before my infant heart conceived
From Whom those comforts flowed.

When in the slippery paths of youth
With heedless steps I ran,
Thine arm unseen conveyed me safe,
And led me up to man.

Through hidden dangers, toils, and deaths,
It gently cleared my way;
And through the pleasing snares of vice,
More to be feared than they.

O how shall words with equal warmth
The gratitude declare,
That glows within my ravished heart?
But thou canst read it there.

Thy bounteous hand with worldly bliss
Hath made my cup run o’er;
And, in a kind and faithful Friend,
Hath doubled all my store.

Ten thousand thousand precious gifts
My daily thanks employ;
Nor is the last a cheerful heart
That tastes those gifts with joy.

When worn with sickness, oft hast Thou
With health renewed my face;
And, when in sins and sorrows sunk,
Revived my soul with grace.

Through every period of my life
Thy goodness I’ll pursue
And after death, in distant worlds,
The glorious theme renew.

When nature fails, and day and night
Divide Thy works no more,
My ever grateful heart, O Lord,
Thy mercy shall adore.

Through all eternity to Thee
A joyful song I’ll raise;
For, oh, eternity’s too short
To utter all Thy praise.

                                                            ******

G.R.Kanwal

16 December 2025

TWENTY THOUGHTS FOR TODAY

 

TWENTY THOUGHTS FOR TODAY

            All the twenty thoughts given below are from the plays and poems  of the English poet and dramatist William Shakesprare who was born on 23April 1564 and is believed to have died on the same date i.e. 23 April in 1616.  

            His works cover all sorts of thoughts about human life.

            Among the literary figures of the world he has no equal.

            The Victorian poet and critic Mathew Arnold whose views on everything from culture to education are appreciated till today said about him  –“Others abide our question. Thou art free. We ask and ask ---Thou smallest and art still. Out topping knowledge. For the loftiest hill, who to the stars uncrowns his majesty.

1.Men shut their doors against a setting sun.

2.An old man is twice a child.

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

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

5. Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold.

6.All orators are dumb when beauty pleadeth.

7. Me, poor man, my library was dukedom large enough. –(From. The Tempest, Act 1. Sc. 2.).

8. Conscience with injustice is corrupted.

9. Love is too young to know what conscience is.

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

11. Let your own discretion be your tutor.

12. God, keep me from false friends.

13. Gentlemen should drink with harness on their throats.

14.Grief makes one hour ten.

15. Sorrow dwells everywhere.

16. Be just and fear not.

17. Life is a shuttle.

18. Omittance is no quittance.

19. A secret must be locked within the teeth and the lips.

20. Men’ faults do seldom to themselves appear.

                                                *****************

G.R.Kanwal

15 December 2025                                              

  

IDLENESS IS A CURSE

 

IDLENESS IS A CURSE

            There is a famous proverb : An idle man’s  brain is a devil’s workshop. It means that “ a mind without productive work or purpose easily fills with negative, mischievous, or evil thoughts and ideas, becoming a breeding ground for trouble, much like the workshop where the devil can create havoc.”

            No organ of the body can maintain its healthiness without performing the task which is eternally destined  for it. The secret of life is continuous activity. Relaxation is reward of fulsome activity.

            A dictum says: No pain, no gain. Get your wages after doing your allotted labour most efficiently. Also remember the idiom : the effort is expended in labour, and the value is created thereby.

            Idleness being laziness, indolence, sloth, inertia, and slothfulness blunts human faculties which shine in use. So be up and doing. This phrase means that we should not sit idle or waste our time. Instead, we should always be active and busy doing something useful. This approach will keep us healthy, wealthy and wise. Idle people are invaded by illness, unhealthy thoughts, dreadful dreams and destructive pictures  of time.

            The English divine Richard Baxter (1615-91) wrote somewhere: Idleness is the hotbed of temptation, cradle of disease, the waster  of time, the canker-worm of felicity. To him that has no employment, life in a little while will have no novelty ; and when novelty is laid in the grave, the funeral of comfort will soon follow.  Idleness is a constant sin, and labour is a duty. Idleness is the devil’s home for temptation and for unprofitable , distracting musings; while labour profiteth others and ourselves.

            According to the English poet and writer Geoffery Chaucer (1340-1400)  idleness is the gate of all harms. An idle man is like a house that hath no walls; the devils may enter on every side.

            And finally this piece of advice by the English poet Christopher Smart (1722-71): Go to the ant, thou sluggard, learn to live, and live and by her busy ways, reform thine own.

                                                *****

G.R.Kanwal

!4 December 2o25

 

WHAT I READ TODAY

 

          WHAT I READ TODAY

1. Blessed am I that I am born to this land and that I had the luck to love her.     

            What care I if queenly treasure is not in her store but precious enough is       for me the living wealth of her love.

 

            Ref: These lines are  from “Motherland” a poem in Gitanjali  written by          the Indian poet, writer and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore (1861-         1941).

           

            Comment: It is unfortunate that what Tagore believed and pacticed is             missing in present day young and old persons. Most of them  are running             after   power and pelf.

 

2. Come, come, whoever you are ,

Wanderer, fire worshipper, lover of leaving.

This is not a caravan of despair.

It does not matter that you have broken your vow

A thousand times, still come,

And yet again come.

 

Ref: I have taken these lines from a book on Rumi which was not published long ago. But I had read the same lines in in another anthology of Persian poetry.

 

Comment: The world is full of sinners. They commit many types of sins in spite of knowing that they shall be punished by God. Each time they commit a new sin, they promise not to commit it again. They swear but their character is not stable. They are vagabonds, fire-worshippers and unfaithful.  They break their vows thousands of times. The poet advises them to reform themselves even after thousands of atonements.  God’s caravan is not of despair and disappointment. It is always accommodating and forgiving. So give up your vicious deeds even now after committing them repeatedly.

                                                *****

G.R.Kanwal

12 December 2025    

             

 

ABOUT A TRAVELLER’S ANGER

 

                 ABOUT A TRAVELLER’S ANGER

            Anger is known as a major sin and a door to hell in several religions.

            In Hinduism it is an enemy of wisdom, arising from thwarted desire and ego.

In Buddhism it is a destructive mental state caused by unmet expectations

            In Christianity it is included in seven deadly sins.

            Indignation, fury, outrage, annoyance, provocation, irritation and vexation are some of the common synonyms of anger.

             What follows is a traveller’s story quoted by the Indian mystic and philosopher Acharya  Rajneesh mostly  known as Osho (1931-1990) .

            A learned traveller came to see a celebrated fakir. He was upset probably due to hard travelling. He untied his shoelaces angrily, tossed the shoes aside in a  corner,  and pushed, opened the door with a heavy thud.

            Commenting on this behavior, Osho observes that a man in anger takes the shoes in a manner as if he is an enemy of the shoes; he even opens a door as if there is standing enmity between him and  the door.

            The traveller threw open the door, went in and offered his homage to the fakir who told him:  No, I do not accept your homage. First go and offer apologies to the door and the shoes.

            The traveller was amazed and said that these things are not beings. The fakir did not accept such arguments.  Ultimately, the traveller obeyed the enlightened fakir and wrote in his life history that after obeying  him  he felt very calm, very calm, very serene and peaceful.

            What one has to learn from this story is that one should  love not only human beings but also  everything else on this planet.  

                                                            *******

G.R.Kanwal

10 December 2025