The apparent serenity: King David, Gitanjali, and Shelvy

A.
"I will turn my mind to a parable,
With the harp I will solve my problem"[Ps 48 (49)]

When king David (supposedly) wrote these lines in Psalms,
I wonder how bold he had been….
Is it what masters say, ‘taking life as a song’…., I wonder!


B.
“The world is all of us,
If we do not collapse,
It will not.”(Untitled)

“Come in!
walk into my cemented sanctuary.
The door is open,
But do be careful,
Not to open my wounds”(Stay With Me)

From ‘The Gitanjali Album’ . Gitanjali Ghei, died of cancer at the age of sixteen on 11th August 1977, in Bombay. Book Prefaced by Paramananda Divarkar, a Jesuit priest (sadly I find no further publication data in the book.)


C.
Beloved, how do you survive these soaked evenings,
When the wine of forgetfulness swells up,
In this chalice, which God left back on the earth.
No, I do not exist…
Rain wipes everything out …
( “when the rains do forget me” (31/7/1995),

‘Water is a memorial,
Just as wine in the Holy Chalice’
(The Reddish, 1994)


All stories are of memories,
All stars are of Memories,
All books…..
(Memory, 1995)

Poems by Shelvy (" Alowkikam" Mulberry Publications, calicut, Kerala). Yes, I had a debt to you. So this adventure of free-translation of your poems, for all the non-Malayalam world to feel the way you were…)