They sway'd about upon a rocking horse,
And thought it Pegasus.
                          -- John Keats

FOUND POEM
(July 20, 2002)

Rocking Pegasus was first
	web-published in September 2001.
	A second, enlarged edition
cannot
be justified if it
		has neither rhyme
	nor reason.
Rocking Pegasus may not
	have reason,
		but it sure has rhyme!

(Not a good found poem. Just re-read it as plain prose.)

A DOUBLE DACTYL

Jickety-jackety 
Journalist Nirmaldas
Cares not to honour the 
Journalist's creed.

Pokes he his nose into
Many a pie and so
Thinks he is wise but is
Foolish indeed.

THE SCRIBE'S TALE
(With apologies to Lewis Carroll)

A judge caught taking bribe
Said to a helpless scribe,
"Let's go to the law: I'll prosecute you.
Come, dare not give offence
For truth is no defence
And with judges it has nothing to do."

Said the scribe to the judge,
"Such a trial with so much grudge
And none to judge our case, would be 
	wasting our breath."
"I'll be judge, I'll be jury,"
Said the judge with fury,
"I'll try the whole case, and condemn
	you to death."

A HAIKU

Sweet music…
A smoking car is
Reversing…

RIDDLES

1. I am smaller than a lock
But bigger than a pin.
Though you can put me in a box,
You can never lock me in.
	Who am I? 	  	

2. At night I am not the moon
And am not the sun at noon.
But I always have to lie
In the middle of the sky.
	Who am I?

THE BIRDS OF TIME

Tick tock, tick tock,
The sun rises, the sun rises,
Cock-a-doodle-do!

Tick tock, tick tock,
The sun sets, the sun sets,
Tu-whit tu-whoo! 

LITTLE PADINI
(an acrostic)
 
Pretty is she as only she can be,
An endearing smile and an ecstatic voice;
Dreamy eyes, and limbs so soft and wee!
Innocence abides and grace abounds in this abode of joys;
Naughty too is she as all little ones must be.
Is not this, O say, sweet, sweeter, sweetest Padini?

RONDEAU

She breathes no more unhappy here,
Soundly she sleeps without a pause!
Her breast is calm and knows no fear,
Has attained a state without flaws.
And her thoughts none can know because		
She breathes no more…

CINQUAINS

a. Mother And Child

She smiles
In ecstasy.
Cradled in her arms lies
The new-born which no smile returns --
But cries!

b. Mynah

Birdie,
Do you hear me?
Like a banner unfurled
Your wings are spread to scale the skies.
Adieu.

c. The Prey

Beyond
The spotted deer
Lurks in stillness the beast.
Its spots they say can never change.
It springs...

INRI

In Golgotha
On a wooden cross
Crucified
Jesus of Nazareth
King of the Jews.

With a crown
Of thorns
And body bare
Save for the cloak
Of innocence
Jesus of Nazareth
King of the Jews.

"Save yourself!"
Shouts a mocking
Crowd knowing not
He came to save
And not to be saved.
Jesus of Nazareth
King of the Jews.

The only
Begotten Son
Of the Father
With five wounds
In the flesh
And a sixth
In the heart
Cried to the Father
Jesus of Nazareth
King of the Jews.

POLITICAL LIMERICKS

A politician called Prasad Laloo
Was afraid to sneeze atishoo!
For they would awake
And then try to make
The sneeze a political issue!

"Why, O why are you wailing loud?"
Asked one with psychic powers endowed.
"O doctor," cried Rajiv,
I cannot but believe
The lies that I speak to the  crowd."

AN ELECTION SLOGAN

I will be honest and do what is right,
I will be sincere and toil day and night.
I am a son of the soil, young and brave;
Make me a Councillor, make me your slave!

CLEANLINESS SLOGAN
(won I prize in The Hindu slogan contest, April 2001)

Office is a working home.
We will keep it clean. 

ANTI-TOBACCO SLOGANS

1. Smokers are innocent killers.
    They kill themselves. And they kill others.

2. Inhaling smoke is suicide.
    Exhaling smoke is homicide.

3. Inhale air. Exhale air.
    Make this world smokeless and fair.

4. A smoker's breath begets death.

GO TO HELL!
(co-authored by W.S. Andrew Veda, 
24 June 2002)                                       

VOICE: I am in heaven!
 ECHO: When?
VOICE: Now.
 ECHO: How?
VOICE: I don't know.
 ECHO: Know.
VOICE: Please let me know.
 ECHO: No!
VOICE: Bad Echo!
 ECHO: Go!
VOICE: Where can I go?
 ECHO: Go!
VOICE: Where? Quickly tell!
 ECHO: Hell!

A MISCHIEVOUS ECHO

VOICE: How shall I be merry?
 ECHO: Marry.
VOICE: Whom shall I marry?
 ECHO: I. Mary.
VOICE: But I love B. Mary more than I. Mary?
 ECHO: Then eye Mary.
VOICE: Shall I eye I. Mary and wed B. Mary?
 ECHO: Be merry!

ECHO CRITIC

VOICE: How is my echo verse?
 ECHO: Worse!

A MARRIAGE BENEDICTION

Blessed pair, nice lad and lassie!
His is strength and hers is grace;
How blest the knot of matrimony
That binds your hearts in sweet embrace!

Happiness and peace shall be your store,
Sad tears never your cheeks shall kiss.
May Christ the Lord His blessings pour
And fill your hearts with mystic bliss!

ADAM-EVE DUET

    Adam: We have lost our innocence.
        Eve: We have lost our innocence.
Together: We have lost our innocence.

(Set to carnatic music by K. Ravi, this one-liner of seven syllables
should be sung again and again in various measures
to bring out the pathos. Though I am the author of this duet,
I should admit that I am a shrewd plagiarist. Many 
years ago this line was uttered by Dr. Nirmal Selvamony
when I asked him if it were possible to bring back
the good old days. And years later I create a different
context and pass it off as mine.)

ANAGRAM

fair dinkum MATE,
glad to have MET 'A.
i vowed to eat no MEAT;
for when i ATE 'M,
baba stared AT ME!

fair dinkum MATE,
vow to eat no MEAT.
but if you EAT 'M,
you cannot join our TEAM
which saves beasts wild and TAME,
and hails baba AMTE!

AMPHIGOURI

At night when all is bright
Amphigouri the pretty lass
Comes with a fishy tail
And stands tip-toe on the grass.

She dances with the merman
Who has lost his lips and tail.
Though he strives to kiss her
She wouldn't lift up her veil.

No moon is there in the sky
And no star to lend its light.
But Amphigouri still wouldn't 
Lift up her veil tonight.

The merman cannot understand
Amphigouri for good or worse.
For she's not really a pretty lass
But in fact a kind of verse.

GOLDEN DROPPINGS

In Panchatantra there is
A story of a strange bird
Whose droppings turn into gold.
Listen to that tale in verse.
This bird a hunter ensnared
And put it into a cage.
"It's an ill-omen," he thought
And decided to present
The bird to the king lest he
Be condemned to die for it.			
The king was happy to own
Such a peculiar bird.
He ordered his guardsmen to
Give the bird choice food and drink.
But the king's counselor said,			
"Why waste food and drink on it?
How can dung turn into gold?"
The king mused awhile and then
He shouted, "Set the bird free!"
Upon a door the freed bird			
Sat and let its droppings fall.
The droppings turned into gold.
And then the bird flew away.

TO ARCANUM CAFÉ JOE

Keep the home fires burning Joe;
If you close shop where can we go?
So what if the cafe is empty?
It should not matter to you are me.
So many poets are showcased there,
So for their sake you got to care!

A COUPLET FOR JOE LAVIGNE

Arcanum Cafe has a nice design
Thanks to webmaster Joe Lavigne!

A LIMERICK FOR ARCANUM CAFE POETS

Arcanum Cafe poets are up to tricks
Writing verses just for kicks.
That's the reason why
I advise them to try
Their hand at writing limericks.

A CLERIHEW FOR SONNY VILLAFANIA

Sonny Villafania 
Has a poetic mania.
He can write a beautiful quatrain
To display his wonderful brain.

TO TTI STUDENTS
(July 17, 1993)

I have been here only twice
But I found you were really nice
To your Tamil miss who now is mine.
So thanks to you ninety times nine.
Tamil miss will miss you dearly,
And so will I or - for rhyme - Me!

NARULA BLUES

Narula and the printer's devil
  are engaged in a terrible fight.
Said, Narula and the printer's devil
  are engaged in a terrible fight.
The devils that subs breed by day,
  he manages to slay by night.

SON OF JOB

Caleb Lawrence, Caleb Lawrence,
What are you doing on the Net?
You look lovely in your dad's arms
And seem to be everyone's pet.

A SHAKESPEARIAN CENTO

A crow that flies in heaven's sweetest air, (Sonnet lxx, iv)
I all alone beweep my outcast state.             (xxix, ii)
In the old age black was not counted fair    (cxxvii, i)
As subject to Time's love or to Time's hate.  (cxxiv, iii)
Applying fears to hopes and hopes to fears, (cix, iii)
Looking on darkness which the blind do see,(xxvii, viii)
The sun itself sees not till heaven clears	 (cxlviii, xii)
To find out shames and idle hours in me.	 (lxi, vii)
O! how I faint when I of you do write.	 (lxxx, i)
To me, fair friend, you never can be old,	 (civ, i)
The mountain or the sea, the day or night.	 (cxiii, xi)
To say they err I dare not be so bold.	 (cxxxi, vii)
They know what beauty is, see where it lies,	 (cxxxvii, iii)
But 'tis my heart that loves what they despise.(cxli, iii)

ANOTHER CENTO

Far from the madding crowd	(Thomas Gray)
She wandered lonely as a cloud.	(William Wordsworth)
Now in quiet she reposes	(Matthew Arnold)
In fields where roses
Fade…			(A.E. Housman)

PUNCHLINES

1. 'Much have I travelled in the realms of gold' (Keats)
    Ticketless... 

2. 'My heart leaps up when I behold' (Wordsworth) 
    A mermaiden with breasts of gold.

3. 'April is the cruellest month' (T.S. Eliot)
    If in April you read Waste Land.

4. 'Ever let the fancy roam' (Keats)
    But keep your mistress safe at home.

5. 'If there were dreams to sell' (Thomas lovell Beddoes)
    I would be a billionaire.

6. 'The old priest Peter Gilligan' (W.B. Yeats)
    Became a newly wedded man.

A VISUAL POEM
(translated from Tamil)

Q
U
E
U
E's
crowded.

A TAMIL PROVERB

Though higher be a sparrow's flight,
Can the sparrow become a kite?

ENNUM EZHUTHUM; OR,
THE IMPORTANCE OF LITERACY
(macaronic verse)

In Konrai Venthan crafted fine
Is poetess Avvai's famous line:
Ennum ezhuthum kannena thagum.

When up you wake or go to bed
Just store this saying in your head:
Ennum ezhuthum kannena thagum.

July hot or cold December
Just remember, just remember:
Ennum ezhuthum kannena thagum.

En are numbers one two three
Four five six to infinity:
Ennum ezhuthum kannena thagum.

Ezhuthu are letters spread
From a b c to x y z:
Ennum ezhuthum kannena thagum.

Kan are your two little eyes
That make you see and become wise:
Ennum ezhuthum kannena thagum.

Thagum is that neat equation
Between kan, ezhuthu and en:
Ennum ezhuthum kannena thagum.

In Konrai Venthan crafted fine
Is poetess Avvai's famous line:
Ennum ezhuthum kannena thagum.

CHAUCER'S MANCIPLE'S TALE
(opening lines modernised)

In the days, when on this mortal ground
Phoebus dwelt, as in ancient writings found,
He indeed was the most gallant knight
Whom none equall'd in bow and arrow fight.
Once, the sleeping python's breath he still'd			5
When the earth with the sun's warmth was fill'd.
And noble deeds he wrought with his bow
Which still do in noble minds echo.
     A minstrel he was of utmost skill,
And had a voice which instil				10
A melody in the ears for long.
Not king Amphion, who wall'd Thebes strong
With a voice so mellow and divine,
Could sing as he in notes half so fine.
Hence was he a wight of fairest kind			15
Since first the earth its shape had assigned.
What needs his self the praise of my tongue?
As no fairest wight the earth has sprung.
And gentleness did his semblance shew,
And fill'd was with worth and honours due.			20
     And he (beauteous flow'r of manhood)
Who, in deeds of valour, above all stood,
Was wont to bear, for pleasure's sake
And as sign of triumph over the snake,
In his hand a bow, as myth portrays.			25
     Now in a cage had he for many days
A crow, which he fostr'd and did teach,
As jays are taught, the art of human speech.
And as a swan's, were its feathers white;
And it could, the speech of every wight,			30
Imitate, when a tale it should tell.
No nightingale could ever sing so well,
Nor, even for a part, come near
That enchantic voice of merry cheer.

THREE POEMS OF SHALOM
(translated into prose)

1. A Letter To Rain

Descend instantly, O ruler of water-droplets! 
Embrace the soil of the Tamils, bring relief to 
the ryots.
     Grant pure droplets as a gift -- as life
to the grains, as happiness to all nature.
     O noble rain, ever satisfying our wants, 
come once again and make us dance 
with ecstasy!

2. The Desiring Self

Thou Desire who comest like the waves;
thou Desire who driest up and goest; 
thou ancient Desire, there is no death for thee.
     There are none in this world without desire. 
Each knowest his desire.
     They who rose high due to desire; they
who fell low due to desire; they who perished 
due to desire, were all who dwelt in this world.
     When desire comes, one ought to be on 
guard. Filled with desires -- lacking knowledge 
of desire's shape -- is this our human self.
     A reasonable desire should be desired. 
Men who have kept and acted on desires 
beneficial to others have attained fame. 
     One desire alone will be fulfilled at a time. 
It is not possible for us to know what 
others desire.

3. Good Nature

Humility is not strychnine, 'tis a pearl in the 
ornament of good nature. A melting pillar 
of light is a candle; yet one which bows 
not to the dark.
     Harmful thoughts ought to be crushed. 
Wanting is the time of destruction of the 
wiles of ephemeral joys. It will be fruitful if 
the bad nature found in a friend is fed 
to the fire.
     Only when the ray of good nature comes 
to the world, only then for mankind will be 
the season of happiness. Where there is not the 
fragrance of good nature, there is eternal sorrow.
     Let the sweet smell of good nature blow in 
us, let us add manure to our own selves. 
We shall share the fruit of good nature (that 
we bear) with all mankind.
     We shall strive to remove the decayed qualities. 
We shall strive to be a paradigm of noble nature.

BHARATI'S PANCHALI SAPATAM
(unfinished translation)

1. In Praise Of The Almighty  (Book I, Canto I)

O Lord! I meditate on thee.
You who console the grieved;
You who pardon the mortals' sins
And bestow thy bower of kindness,--
O faultless one of no shape or form,
The one whom the mortals seek
And chant the mantra `OM', --
O divine force! Omniscient one!
Symbol of happiness! Enlighten me
As I in spirituality grow;
And grant these verses of mine,
Both fame and immortality.

2. Obeisance To Saraswati (Book I, Canto I)

From the veena ye bringest,
Music divine; thine ears
Do hear music alone;
Thine eyes that enlighten,
Can see aesthetic things alone;
The smile of thine reveals
Thine taste of artistic things.
True works of art, thine hands
Do embrace; and the artist's heart,
With thine taste, for e'er is filled.
     O Saraswati! goddess of learning,
 Seated in a lotus, of petals white;
O presiding deity of the arts,-- 
I sing the song of Panchali,
Wedded to the princes five.
Send thy blessings, O goddess -
Whose presence is in nature felt -
As I sing; as you've instilled
An aesthetic taste in me,
When I was in my youth's prime. 

3. Hastinapura (Book I, Canto I)

With gardens filled with flowers,
Refreshed by the morning dew;
With lakes, clear as crystal;
With groves that a variety yields -
Of fruits which meet the devas' taste:-
Is the city of Hastinapura.
     With sculptures and paintings;
With music and dancing;
With danseus's whose honey'd lips
Heavenly kisses impart;
With temples of art, where
Daily rites are performed;
With smell of incence, emanating
From burning sandal wood;
With priests chanting hymns;
With debates and tests in skills
By large crowds witness'd;
With men, scholarly and wise;
With chariots, by fine horses drawn;
With bare bodied men,
Knowledged in the use of arms -
Of spears, lances and darts -
Shewing their shoulders broad,
And strength that canst meet
That of elephants five score:-
Is Hastinapura, matchless and stately.
     And in quietism lived some
(Relishing not artistic things;
With actions unjust, by Maya inspired:
Like flattery and performances
Of many a false rite and sacrifice):-
In the embellished, ancient,
Hastinapura of northern Hindustan.

4. Duryodhana's Court (Book I, Canto I)

Such a place - where the Yamuna flow'd,
With its scented holy waters,
Extending in length, width and depth -
Did Duryodhana his reign extend,
By poets praised and by people lov'd.
     He his father's counsel heeded
And wisely ruled the land;
He never has, in manner submissive,
To another king bow'd; and strong
And brave and bold was he.
     And among the courtiers in his court
Were priests, musicians and poets; and chief
Among the ministers was Vidura,
Who many a wise counsel gave;
There was Bhishma, of the Aryan line,
Who taught the arts of war and peace,
Both to them and the Pandavas;
There were his brothers, who all
From the right path strayed;
There was Shakuni, sagacious and vile;
And there was the godlike Karna,
Who bestowed his boundless wealth
Boundless to the poor, and was
As brave and dignified as his king.
      And Duryodhana, with such a balanced court,
Raised the flag of the Kauravas
That danced in waves in the wind.     

5. Duryodhana's Jealousy (Book I, Canto I)

Despite the pleasures to Duryodhana served,
Which art meant for Indra alone,
He - with a jealous heart -
Thinks heaven to him denies
A greater pleasure that's to Yudhistra lent.
Hence the blind Dhritarashtra's son,
Through the solitudinal realm of thoughts,
Leads thus his arid heart:
     "When to my brother-cousins compared
In wit, skill and strength, I
In wit am by Yudhistra matched;
In strength by mighty Bhima;
And by Arjuna in skill! And I
Lack also the handsome features,
Which Sahadeva and Nakula possess.
Even the thought - that I canst,
In strength and skill, outshine
Yudhistra, Sahadeva and Nakula;
And canst, in wit outshine
Both Bhima and Arjuna -
Is little consolation to me.
     "When of Yudhistra's imperial sacrifice
I think, I grieve the more; for I,
A mere invitee, unnoticed stood
A witness to the proceedings.
Many a king from many a place,
From across the deserts and seas,
From the plains and from the hills
Arrived with a horde of gifts.
And all those gifts they laid
Before Yudhistra's feet, the feet
Of Indraprasta's unmanly king.
O! now before mine eyes come
Those gifts that lay before his feet
And hurls my heart to petulancy.
     "The shining vessels and ornaments
That unto him were brought,
Were all of beaten gold.
The variety of stones, that lay
Before his feet, seek to hurt
Mine eyes.-Emeralds, rubies, diamonds,
Sapphires and pearls, all embedded
In jewels of silver and of gold…
       "Were these the only things,
That unto him were brought?
O no!-a myriad number, as many
As the stars, that deck the sky,
And as the sands, that deck the shore…

35.   Panchali's Vow (Book II, Canto V)

"OM! upon the goddess of omnipotence
Now do I this vow betake:-
Only when my dishevelled hair is washed
In sinful Dushasana's reeking blood
And Duryodhana's wretched gore combined,
Then shall I treat my hair
In ghee, and tend and plait it well!
Till then, mine hair shall dishevelled lie!"
Thus Panchali betook her vow and ceased.

The whirling storm besieged the earth,
And the earth shook and opened wide.
And all the Devas cried "OM!"
And "OM!" thundered the azure sky.
The fire spread its blazing arms,
And the billows lashed the shore;
And I cease to sing…