Voices Of The Heart, Emmenay [best management books of all time .TXT] 📗

ANOTHER NEW YEAR - 2008

Another new year has come,
And I ponder upon my fears,
What has the new sun brought save,
More unhappiness and tears!
Loved ones are no longer there,
To share a smile of joy with me,
Strangers, strangers everywhere,
Amid chaos, fuss, mayhem, frenzy.
Dishonesty and lies abound,
And virtue has no meaning,
Lust has obliterated love,
In this cannibalised living.
Come, O my heart, do not pine,
Or grieve or sigh or mourn,
Come, let us seek sojourn,
Somewhere -- where all is fine.
Perhaps I am a dreamy man,
Not suited for this beastly age,
And like birds I too must hide,
My real self inside a cage.
Let me inhale a deep puff,
Of a Havana cigar,
Lest I too lose my sanity,
In a world constantly at war.
Let me seek an escape route,
Into a visionary dawn,
Where the New Year heralds hope,
Along with a shining morn'.


(2) A CHALLENGE

Tidal defiance dares me,
the tides are red with blood,
camel’s eyes are lifeless lamps.
Being bleeds and Caesar-like,
drained of life I seek the hand,
For whose stab I march ahead.
They all say,
and profess,
That they all know me.
Even my God,
does not claim,
He fully knows me.
Seeking love ruined me,
I accept no reality,
Everything fools us completely.
They cannot see the real me,
Their eyes lack the sight to see,
My heart's redness in the sea.
So let the sea laugh and roar,
Let stormy winds howl and shriek,
My grief is concealed in me.

(3) A DIALOGUE WITH MY MAKER

In the midst of night I lie, awake,
Unable to share what comes to my mind,
In the midst of all these thoughts You come,
With elation does ecstasy come.
You say You are always by my side,
Nearer to me than my jugular vein,
Tell me then the untold truth,
Tell me how one in heaven abides.
You say You made me in the best of moulds,
Then, reduced me to the lowest low,
You say You are the Creator Best,
That You are Unique from all the rest.
You say everything has been destined,
What for then is my daily grind,
What is this promise of heaven and hell,
Why do You speak from a hiding blind?
The perfect man You sent for us,
To save us from your Hell's abyss,
You say You are Most Merciful,
Then who stole my rest and peace?

(4) A DIALOGUE WITH NATIONS

In the Name of Allah (God) do I begin,
In the Name of the One Who is,
The Compassionate, the Merciful,
There is nothing like unto Him.
Then I humbly offer my salutation of peace,
To Prophet Muhammad, the harbinger of peace.
It's through him that souls are defined,
It's through him that souls are refined,
It's through him that all mankind,
Has received the Message of peace.
Sincere is my appeal to my fellowmen,
In all the wide, spread out land,
May my Lord give flow to my words,
So that you all may understand.
I appeal with a passage from the Quran,
addressed to us all as a whole,
"O mankind, adore your Gaurdian Lord,
Who created you from one soul."
And from that soul create its mate,
And from the two, made nations, whole."
Some are humble and some are great,
But it is up to us to remember,
That all of us have been made equal,
That in God's sight nobody is great.
We have become tribes and nations,
So that we may learn about civilization.
Some belong to Asia, some to Europe,
Some to Africa, some Australia,
Some come from the Americas,
Some even live in Antarctica.
But it doesn't matter where we come from,
We are all humans with the same form,
Our ancestral strains are all similar,
Be we at the two Poles or the Equator.
This is my plea to all men and women,
Who make the communities of all nations:
Let's not work mischief in the land,
Be it on the hills or the desert sands.
Let's help each other in doing good,
Let one and all earn their livelihood.
Let the rich share their wealth with the poor,
And be kind to the wayfarer.
Let us strive against exploitation,
Be it of man, child, or woman.
May all of us who are far and near,
Spread the message of peace and vanquish fear.
Let us pledge on every occasion,
That we won’t be lured by lust and passion.
That we shall strive against poverty and hunger,
And eliminate lawlessness on every border.
Let us all agree with determination,
That we all shall become one great nation.
United in the bonds of harmony and peace,
So that hatred and war-mongering seize.

(5) WITH KUKU


Kuku
Ocean waves tide rushing nowhere,
Impressions of naked feet, drifting.
Shadows leaping frogs on lily pads
Bathing in summer heat wave.

Emmenay
I too sat by the sandy shore,
And met Omar Khayyam and some more
Poets, like Plath, where were you?
In the midst of the dark nights I lie,
Questioning sleep and why I don't die,
Perhaps I am still not alive.
Loyalty and that too in this age?
Open Sesame, is it that easy,
Split open my heart and see the rage.
Green eyes, blue eyes, brown and black,
Truth and honesty in all does lack,
Aesop's wisdom, dusty in a rack.

This Haiku poetry discussion was between me and Deborah Russell (Kuku) on January 16 and 17, 2002.

(6) A FLOWER CALLED DAPHNE

If you ask me about innocence,
I will say it is Daphne,
If you ask about chastity,
I will say it is Daphne.
A synonym for virtue,
Who else but Daphne,
An antonym for envy,
I will say it's Daphne.
A simile for truth?
A beauty called Daphne,
A metaphor for beauty?
A truth called Daphne.
In the garden of flowers,
There are tulips and roses,
But more than all there is,
A laurel called Daphne.
In this wide and vast world,
Many women have I seen,
But haven't seen anyone -
Anyone like Daphne.
In short, let me conclude:
There's none like Daphne,
A tribute to her Maker,
She's called Daphne.

(7) A GOOD WOMAN

That woman is really blessed who,
Has faith in God, in her own virtue,
Who safeguards her chastity,
Is kind, modest, sincere and true.
She does not get carried away,
By people who are false and vain,
She shuns pride, envy, malice,
With dignity she holds her sway.
She is quiet, simple in her bearing,
Pure of body, mind and soul,
She doesn't waver off the track,
To righteousness does she always cling.
With such a woman a good man can,
Conquer his self and the whole world,
Greater than Alexander* he can be,
Forever lofty in time's span.

*Alexander the great of Macedonia, Greece.

(8) A LITTLE WHILE MORE

Let the remaining years of my life,
Be - as Elliot says - measured in coffee spoons;
Let the moments not wring the heavy heart;
Let the aroma not stir up memories;
Let not Spring make me remember green,
Let not the evening moonrise blankly stare:
Let me carry on with whatever is left,
No confidante have I found,
Who can share,
Who can a sincere moment spare,
People think this outpourings of mine,
Are a poet's rambling in the vale of time;
The heaviness, like a rolling mill stone,
Is slowly grinding this heart of mine,
And very soon there will be no sign,
Left of whatever was treasured,
in my mind's deep and unexplored mine.
Let the medicine man's pills make me forget,
Let me not be aware of any regret,
Let me be lost myself for a little while more,
After which there will be no encore.
Let the singers sing their songs and stay,
Let the merry makers cajole and play,
Let me watch them and feel alive,
Not pine for what I could not keep in store,
After all this is for just a little while more…


(9) A PLEA

Is this earth the place You had for me?
From Firdous* and Eden, here? To be?
You know the secrets of the heart and soul,
Then You must be aware of my misery.
Let not the creation before whom all bowed,
Be confined to where it should not be,
You say You are able to track down a sigh,
If so restore my place with You, Most High.

*Firdous: The highest place in paradise as mentioned in Islamic scriptures.

(10) PRAYER

O my Lord Allah,
When I hymn Your praise,
May the trees kneel,
And may the streams sing.
Give me the power,
To make the mighty bow,
When I praise Your glory,
May the whole world glow.
Make my pen mightier,
Than the sharpest sword,
Increase me in my faith,
Don't let me falter.
You are my Guardian,
My Saviour, my Friend,
I want you by my side,
To the very end.

(11) A RESOLVE

You strove to strangle truth with chains,
You strove to throw it in the pit of flames,
You tried to vanquish it with brute force,
You tried to make it sound insane.
Throughout history we observe how,
Efforts have been made to spread falsehood,
Yet truth has always been victorious,
Evil has succumbed and bowed to good.
Noah, Abraham, Moses and Joseph,
Elisha, Saleh, Solomon, Jesus,
Or be it Muhammad of Arabia,
They fought falsehood and triumphed.
In bondage tyrants keep humanity,
Ruling over them without justice,
But for how long has their reign been,
Didn't they, in a short time, perish?
I too will, with God with me, by me,
Stand out against evil, tyranny,
I will keep on fighting bravely,
Till souls in bondage I set free.

*The names of persons mentioned in this poem are of prophets and messengers of God Almighty.

(12) A RESPONSE TO ALEXANDER POPE

Pope’s Ode to solitude
"How happy he, who free from care
The rage of courts, and noise of towns;
Contented breaths his native air,
In his own grounds.
"Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,
Whose flocks supply him with attire,
Whose trees in summer yield him shade,
In winter fire.
"Blest! who can unconcern'dly find
Hours, days, and years slide swift away,
In health of body, peace of mind,
Quiet by day
"Sound sleep by night; study and ease
Together mix'd; sweet recreation,
And innocence, which most does please,
With meditation.
"Thus let me live, unheard, unknown;
Thus unlamented let me die;
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lie."

(Pope, it is said, wrote this gem of a poem at the age of 12. It is undoubtedly one of the 100 best poems of the English language during the last five hundred years).

My Reply
To be happy how much I try,
From birth to this day but why,
Have I have not been able to,
Succeed in my efforts -- I sigh...
I am not fascinated by this world,
Its temporal gains I don't desire,
I shun the falsehood on which it thrives,
And the vanity of people with fingers curled.
To me contentment is not peace,
The restless mind and heart don't cease,
To keep the soul and body engaged in tasks,
Till the day when my blood will freeze.
For, what if I am lamented or not: