TO THE LITTLE, TENDER AND INNOCENT KIDS!
O that the real Value of all the gifts, I could, with fair eyes, see,
That had ever been present, by the bounteous Nature, all around!
Had I hugged all the gifts with a sense of supra-mundane glee,
Her aim wouldn’t have been dashed on the hard materialistic ground!
O that I had not ever weighed, like an avaricious merchant, all
the gifts,
On the mean, mercenary and insatiable scales of price!
O that I had not created in Morality contemptible splits, holes
and rifts,
Mincing, alas, with a Shylock’s money knife, Her Love into many a
slice!
O that I could, like Coventry Patmore’s child, find a heaven of
gold,
In the common pebbles, dry sands, forlorn flowers and unheeded shells!
O that I could accept gladly the inevitable Law of Nature of
growing old,
So that I would not try, in vain, to evade the pangs of my self-
made hells!
Thus, hark! O the little, tender and innocent kids!
Never do you follow in my blameworthy steps, nor do you ever
tread,
Stick not to my sorrow saving ways when childhood to you ‘a
goodbye bids,
Lest you should, as I do now, unavoidably and endlessly Seas of sour
tears shed!
Glossary:
Supra-mundane glee – heavenly happiness
Dashed - collided
Avaricious - greedy
Mercenary – regarding money
Contemptible – disgraceful
Forlorn – dejected
Pangs – pains
Shylock – a cruel and dishonest money lender in Shakespeare’s play
‘The Merchant of Venice’ who was sharpening his knife to cut a pound of flesh
of Antonio, a kind and helpful merchant.
Coventry Patmore – A 19th century English poet had punished
his son for disobeying him many times. The motherless son had slept getting
consolation from a red-veined stone, a piece of glass abraded by the beach, six
or seven shells arranged by him on a table beside his bed.
©Shankar D Mishra, 06.02.2018
Blog: sdmpoetry.blogspot.com
My blog contains 236 poems till date.
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