Between blistering terrain and my words
a life incarnates
some one at distance
whispers Bismillha(1)
someone at distance….
A boy runs to play with the marbles
the wings spread across the cloud
this is the time for Mallhar(2)
I wait
I wait for your return
Now when you are not there
I gather all these small little images
you left behind
That soothing sound of Shehnai(3)
creates resonance in ear and thought…
Yaman(4) takes uncounted steps in avaroha (5)
And mingles in Ganga (6)
like a poem…
From Taar(7) to Mandra(8)
From Sa(9) to Nee (10)
From life to cadaver
each stanza of your poem
waft with the ferryman who sings a Kajri(11)
Coming Holi(12) you will not be there with us Ustad(13)
Nor your Shehnai will be filling the heart
for that endless fasting of Ramzan(14)
from Reshav (15) to Pancham (16)
the language of your invisible poetry
will cover that miniscule distance of death
I will wait
I will wait for your return
in the mournful afternoon’s veranda
to start the journey from Sabd (17) to Naad (18)
=========
*This poem is a tribute to Ustad Bismillha Khan, more than a synonym of Shehnai was a creator of poetry with his attitude and this instrument…
(1)The holy beginning…
(2)The Hindustani classical raag of rains…
(3)Shehnai is a north Indian Oboe a quadruple-reed instrument with two upper and two lower reeds
(4)Yaman is a raag in Hindusthani Classical, the favorite of Ustad Bismillha Khanji…
(5)Descent, a movement from the high note to low one…
(6)Ganga the holy river of India
(7)Third or higher Octave
(8)First or lower Octave
(9)a
(10)g
(11)It’s a singing form of folk music sung by classical semi-classical musicians. The word may have origin from kajal, which means Kohl or Black
(12)An Indian Festival of Colors…
(13)Master, Here Ustad Bismillah Khanji
(14)The lunar month of fasting
(15)b
(16)e
(17)Words and semantics
(18)The music, beyond words and semantics…
23 comments:
Wow! What a musical tribute!! Thanks for the definitions!!
This is very heartfelt. I love it!
Thank you Pat...It is nice to know that those definitions helped. In fact, I was reluctant to put those in the beginning as they affect the flow. But doesn't matter, one can read it twice...
Thanks Pat...
Thank you Andrew...you got it exactly the way I wanted to communicate. This poem has not touched even a miniscule part of Ustad Bismillha Khan-ji. Sometime I feel words are so inferior mode of communication when it comes to music and silence...
Thanks Andrew....
A tussle between music and silence. Between the light of life and experience and the darkness of death. Ustad will never die...great work! Kudos!!
Thank you Kranti... and thank you for visiting too...
This poem overflows with love. For some reason it made me think of Rabindranath Tagore's Farewell Song.
Natalia, its so nice to hear about Tagore from you...
I feel and as Andrew puts it, its an heartfelt experience...perhaps that is why the love seems to be so intense.
Comparing this poem with Tagore's I can't express how you have honoured me Thank you Natalia
Lyrical, can almost hear the sitar and the accompanying soft indian drums, the rhythm is distinctly Shamalee
I sent you an e-mail today and it was returned to me. Has your address changed? yahoo said that it's not one of their addresses.
Thank you so much Dr. Ng....
Hi Andrew, I have sent a e-mail to you from my another a/c. I hope you received it...
Thank you Dustin....
Beautiful and poignant tribute, Shyamalee.
You know what (and please do not read this as criticism, it's part of my research interest on blogs and poetry) I felt that the footnote numbers distracted me from the flow of the words. Because this is a matter of heated debate in the area of Indian writings in English, I want to know why you think annotations of this kind, on the text of the poem itself, are necessary.
PS: Those two deletions above are mine. No idea what I was doing! :P
you are right river...I understand how these footnotes distract. But, on the other hand, as a poet I have this tremendous urge to communicate. When I understand that my readers are from varying background, I automatically fall into this situation. I wish to use some method, perhaps, where both these interests can be satisfied...
You know, last when I published it in Deccan Herald before putting it in blog, I never put a single footnote….
I sincerely feel your words and encouraged by your visit. Thank you a lot river for your comments.
Shymalee, I am one of river's readers from Melbourne Australia.
I do some work at HTML and CSS and I think I see a solution to the problem so that the footnotes become apparent with the mouse hovering over the line in question. Unfortunately, I cannot do it immediately in the comments. However with your permission I will post it on my blog at swarf you can find it on river's blogroll.
dear bernardus, thank you so much for this solution. Though my technological knowledge is very poor, I will visit your site to understand it.
Thank you a lot for addressing this problem.
Shymalee, it was more complicated than I thought beacuse of cross-browser problems.
I have put it in my new blog Maelstrom at http://bernardus-maelstrom.blogspot.com/index.html
I would be most interested in your comments on this.
I am writing to ~river~ at the same time, to try for her approval or interest
Just hold the mouse over.
I have added some example screen grabs on my blog of the current state of play. I am also going to bed. I think I may be four hours ahead of you. The problem can develop over night.
this one is really a very nice post
thank you dear...
Sometime anonymity is quite inquisitive, like poem...
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