My Last Candle

-- Web-published September 2020/2021 --

“But I have arrived at the end of my resources: there is nothing left in the larder,
 and this candle that you see burning is the last that remains ... ”
--  From Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio

Flicker, flicker candle bright,
How I wonder what you light!
From the room the darkness goes,
But not the gloom of shadows...
--  From Nirmaldasan's Moonlight Miscellany

Poet laureate
(December 2019)

To both the king and queen
I swear I have been loyal,
But ask me not to chaunt 
The chant royal.

My life is like a pantomime
With many a turn on a dime
You see me walking in my prime
Sipping a glass of sweet fresh lime
And humming the pleasantest chime
I’m certain you have enough time 
To watch me slipping into slime
With a face now blackened with grime
 Or committing some grievous crime
But sorry I’ve run out of rhyme

A and B and C,
Am I born to see
The calm or stormy sea?

In the fane
Do not feign
To be fain ...

The mantis prays,
The mantis preys ...
Ah praise the mantis!

He’s willing to share some peas
But takes the pie in one piece.
May his soul rest in peace!

Do you fear
To spell Shakespear?

He himself wasn’t sure
Of spelling Shakespure.

He would be square
If you write Shakespuare

He wasn’t a squire
To be spelt Shakespuire

Like the tables of Napier
Are the plays of Shakespier

Maybe Byron wrote giaour
After reading Shakespiaour

A piece of US caviar 
Is Shakespiar

And the British caviare
Is also Shakespiare

Thousands said he is without a peer
O that Shakespeer

Tolstoy felt he wasn’t sincere
Ah this Shakespere

You may easily tire
If you read Shakespire

But the dearest of the deare
Lo and behold -- Shakespeare!

A Wish For My Son
(03/04/2020)

Let’s think not of tomorrow
For tomorrow is another day;
But today, this morrow,
Ah ’tis your birthday!

Into a wishing-well I tossed a coin,
Whether your dreams be many or few;
And ancestral voices in chorus join
As I sing a happy birthday to you!

The jasmine-scented breeze
Is blowing in the trees
Singing a happy birthday to you!

Your friends and pets and all
Are rushing into the hall
Singing a happy birthday to you!

Though the stars are out of sight
They’ll spell your name tonight
Singing a happy birthday to you!

In a hanky I’ve tied a coin
And Young Davids in chorus join
Singing a happy birthday to you!

When hand-in-hand they walk
May there be flowers sweet
Under Kanna and Sapna’s feet!

When close they sit and talk
May the breeze like a tether
Bind Kanna and Sapna together!

On this wedding anniversary
May all the gods and goddesses
King Kanna and Queen Sapna bless!

Vernal Equinox,
World Poetry Day –
Prof. IAJ Jeyadoss!

Patriotic Indian,
Secular Soul --
Prof. IAJ Jeyadoss!

Tamil Spirit,
Noble Kinsman –
Prof. IAJ Jeyadoss!

Loyolite Sincere,
English Star –
Prof. IAJ Jeyadoss!

Sometime Dean,
Always Teacher –
Prof. IAJ Jeyadoss!

No way. The hundred is there.
The child’s made of one hundred.
It has hundred languages,
Hundred hands and hundred thoughts,
A hundred ways of thinking,
Of playing and of speaking.
A hundred, always hundred,
Hundred ways of listening,
Of marvelling, of loving,
A hundred joys for singing
As well for understanding.
Hundred worlds to discover,
A hundred worlds to invent
And a hundred worlds to dream.
It has hundred languages
(And a hundred hundred more)
But teachers steal ninety-nine.
Yes, the school and its culture
Separate head from body.
And then the school tells the child
To just think without the hands,
To simply do without head,
To listen and not to speak,
To understand without joy,
To love and to marvel too
Only Easter and Christmas.
They tell them to discover,
Find the world already there.
Of the hundred languages,
They steal ninety-nine; and they
Tell the child: that work and play.
Reality and fantasy,
Science and imagination,
Sky and earth, reason and dream,
Are things that do not belong
Together. And thus they say
That the hundred is not there.
But the child will always say,
“No way. The hundred is there.”

But hear no evil
Though devil’s voice be loud and clear;
But hear no evil
Though slander and gossip your ears may thrill.
May tidings glad bring you cheer;
For feeble Truth just cock an ear,
And hear no evil.

But speak no evil
Though devil’s words be tongue-in cheek;
But speak no evil
Though tongue may wag for lack of will.
May lips and tongue always seek
Simple words of Truth, wise and meek,
And speak no evil.

But see no evil
Though devil’s deeds spectacular be;
But see no evil,
Just shut your eyes and remain still.
From uncouth sights may eyes be free;
Watch Truth’s sapling become a tree,
And see no evil.

But think no evil
Though devil’s thoughts be seductive.
But think no evil,
Your empty self with musings fill.
In that consciousness collective,
May your heart and soul wisdom give
And think no evil.

But do no evil
Though devil’s horns be mighty sharp.
But do no evil,
Let humbleness flow like a rill.
May your dauntless feet scale a scarp
And nimble fingers tune a harp
And do no evil.

But be no evil
Though devil’s being be strange.
But be no evil,
Even if it’s destiny’s will.
Sure it is within human range
To strive for that angelic change
And be no evil.

The corona quarantine is a pain,
Across the world millions sicken and cry.
On their lips is the corona refrain;
Some people recover, some people die.
Spines tingle with fear when we hear a sneeze
And masked faces are afraid of the breeze.
Not God nor Nature did this virus send
But scientists who claim to be mankind’s friend.
They should learn like us to hold a candle
And much time in precious devotion spend;
The last but bright candle is burning still.

O never walk into the lab again,
There is much beyond in the world to spy.
Never, never dissect the mice and grain;
Let whales sail the sea and birds wing the sky.
Though Frankenstein’s monsters may be at ease,
In nature must humankind find its peace.
Who can us from this corona defend?
Enough, enough of playing ‘let’s pretend’.
The mind is sick and the body is ill,
Hardly any time on thoughts to expend;
The last but bright candle is burning still.

Mathematics intoxicates the brain;
Its equations are beautiful and spry!
Counting was an art when mankind was sane,
But as a science its equations are dry.
As an art it’s a lovely flight of geese,
But as a science it’s a stale piece of cheese.
Upon art and craft must our lives depend,
And now we must technology suspend,
And corona will have no pow’r to kill.
Does handicraft our dignity offend?
The last but bright candle is burning still.

Take a walk past trees in the grassy plain
With feet unshod, and you’ll know how and why
So brown rich the earth is after the rain;
And may your eyes enjoy the rainbow pie,
And may your ears too enjoy, if you please,
Sweet music of the wind among the trees.
Human culture and divine nature blend,
Far from the cities, as the rivers bend.
Whether the walk be up or down the hill,
Our ways must towards divinity wend;
The last but bright candle is burning still.

The broken oikos must become a fane
And nature will heal herself by and by.
Her children are we and so must remain
To pluck a wholesome reed and flute a sigh,
Burn incense and pray’rs say on bended knees;
Corona disappears, our troubles cease.
Dip in the oceans and the hills ascend,
Touch the sky, the moon, the stars and descend.
With imagination and poetic skill
Our thoughts must towards divinity tend;
The last but bright candle is burning still.

Envoy

With hearts laden with pulsing memories,
Our quarantined ship will sail the sev’n seas.
And as this chant royal swings to an end,
Let’s take a pledge – our darkened souls to mend.
Though the sun has sunk and the night grows chill,
Yet we may chance to count our dividend;
The last but bright candle is burning still.

270
Love and Sivam are twain, the ignorant say;
Love becoming Sivam know not they.
When Love becoming Sivam they see,
In Love-Sivam's being they be!

2716
“Siva Siva” say not evil doers;
Saying “Siva Siva” evil disappears;
Saying “Siva Siva” makes each a god,
And “Siva Siva” makes Siva the God!

1532
For those who say He's inside and outside --
Inside and outside my God does reside;
For those who say He isn't in and isn't out,
He neither is within nor is without.

1680
They follow not Master who heals the blind,
They follow Master who heals not the blind.
Blind and blind blindly dance in a blind dance;
Blind and blind into tumbling pit advance.

1445
In town, country and ev'ry sacred shrine,
Wander and seek and sing His name divine.
Sing and singing bow and having bowed,
The heart's congress becomes His abode.

2757
Dancing with gods and dancing in cosmos,
Dancing with trinity and spirit fellows,
Dancing in song and with Sakthi in trance,
And dancing in shrine is the Lord of dance!

1604
What becomes mantra and medicine great,
What becomes tantra and bounteous estate,
What becomes beauty and pristine discourse
Are my Lord, my God's sacred feet of course!

2615
Scissor your desires, scissor your desires,
Even unto God scissor your desires!
The more you desire, the more come sorrows;
The less you desire, joy sure overflows!

2067
Saying Seer isn’t here much mischief they do,
But places without Seer come not to view;
Like all-seeing Seer they permeate space;
Seeing the Seer, of mischief there’s no trace! 

2883
Within the Seer five milch cows there be
Without kineherd wandering recklessly.
If the kineherd comes and recklessness goes,
Then milk of the Seer’s kine overflows!

2351
Many vessels are shaped by the same sod,
And every womb is filled by the same God.
The eye, excepting itself, can see much;
The being of the great One is also such.

252
Everyone to God may offer a leaf;
Everyone to cow a mouthful sheaf;
Everyone a handful may spare as they eat;
Everyone to others may say words sweet.

1857
What's offered to God of the towered fane --
To devoted human temples is vain;
What's offered to human temples is fine
Also unto God of the towered shrine.

148
He wished to dine, a sweet dish was his;
And with slender dame he came to bliss.
He felt in his chest a sinister ache
And lay to rest but could never awake.

724
If Mr. Body dies, then Mr. Breath flies --
True Wisdom's  form cannot firmly realise.
I found the means for the body's health;
I nurtured my body, I nurtured my breath.

2148
Body and body bodily embrace
And know not how life within body stays.
They're dark how life in body friendly dwells,
Confused as stray dog in monastic cells.

2944
With eyes in the face, fools outward hebold;
Only to inward eyes true joys unfold!
How may a mother say if she be asked
To tell her son how she with husband basked?

2290
Wood of jumbo is concealed by jumbo,
Concealed within the wood lies the jumbo.
God of the worlds is concealed by the worlds,
And concealed within God lie all the worlds.

2228
I myself am mine enemy and friend,
I myself am this life's and next life's end;
I myself enjoy fruit of every deed,
I myself am leader and myself lead!

2355
Understanding Self, the Self knows its way
But the Self in ignorance goes astray.
Understanding the mind that knows the Self,
The Self then will stay to worship itself.

2014
There's only one tribe and only one God;
Think good and the way of Death is un-trod
As well rebirth's way; and so meditate
And attain the Being's eternal state.

FINIS

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