It was just one of those ideas that broke unexpectedly into an afternoon chat between spnadmin, Mai ji, and artistotle ji ... somehow our favorite poets became a topic of casual conversation. I don't even remember how it happened, except that in this broken dialog that covered 40 different subjects of importance to Sikhs or to the forum or to our personal lives, poetry just slid in and out of the chat.
The idea of course is about discussion. Please take part!
It was the sort of conversation that works much like a wonderful afternoon tea: the kind that fortifies you because both the tea and the companionship change the way the world looks just a tiny bit. We discovered things we never knew about our partners. Just knowing makes a person want to know more. We were trading names of our favorite poets, and then the idea came about.
Love of poetry is a passion that smoulders, but never becomes a destructive fire; it glimmers in the background. One can go there when one wants and warm up the heart. Why not share that passion, that part of ourselves with the rest of the forum? Why not create a thread so that any member can talk about a favorite poet and post a poem or two and discuss why they like that poem.
Some of us are very shy. However, Mai ji, aristotle ji and I will begin. The very first entry however honors Admin Singh ji who never makes any claim to importance, yet .. none of this would be happening, none of it, without him
I know that Admin Singh ji has a special appreciation for Rabindranath Tagore. Translated from the Bengali
Rabindranath Tagore was Asia’s first Nobel Prize winner. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913 for his book Gitanjali. Although most famed for his poetry, Tagore was a creative genius who played a crucial role in the cultural renaissance of India and Bengal in the 19th and early 20th Century. As well as being a Seer poet Tagore’s achievements included notable contributions in the fields of music, literature, plays, art and education reformer.
The idea of course is about discussion. Please take part!
It was the sort of conversation that works much like a wonderful afternoon tea: the kind that fortifies you because both the tea and the companionship change the way the world looks just a tiny bit. We discovered things we never knew about our partners. Just knowing makes a person want to know more. We were trading names of our favorite poets, and then the idea came about.
Love of poetry is a passion that smoulders, but never becomes a destructive fire; it glimmers in the background. One can go there when one wants and warm up the heart. Why not share that passion, that part of ourselves with the rest of the forum? Why not create a thread so that any member can talk about a favorite poet and post a poem or two and discuss why they like that poem.
Some of us are very shy. However, Mai ji, aristotle ji and I will begin. The very first entry however honors Admin Singh ji who never makes any claim to importance, yet .. none of this would be happening, none of it, without him
I know that Admin Singh ji has a special appreciation for Rabindranath Tagore. Translated from the Bengali
The Banyan Tree
O you shaggy-headed banyan tree standing on the bank of the pond,
have you forgotten the little child,
like the birds that have nested in your branches and left you?
Do you not remember how he sat at the window
and wondered at the tangle of your roots that plunged underground?
The women would come to fill their jars in the pond,
and your huge black shadow would wriggle
on the water like sleep struggling to wake up.
Sunlight danced on the ripple like
restless tiny shuttles weaving golden tapestry.
Two ducks swam by the woody margin above their shadows,
and the child would sit still and think.
He longed to be the wind and blow through your rustling branches,
to be your shadow and legthen with the day on the water,
to be a bird and perch on your topmost twig,
andto float like those ducks among the weeds and shadows.
Rabindranath Tagore was Asia’s first Nobel Prize winner. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913 for his book Gitanjali. Although most famed for his poetry, Tagore was a creative genius who played a crucial role in the cultural renaissance of India and Bengal in the 19th and early 20th Century. As well as being a Seer poet Tagore’s achievements included notable contributions in the fields of music, literature, plays, art and education reformer.