Best Kalidasa Poems
Flattered... my name meaning a Princess of ancient times,
In the state of Malawa, where temple-bells rang chimes,
Bard, Kalidasa, composed in Sanskrit an epic great
About a Princess and her story of disguise and fate.
Agnimitra, handsome Prince, enamoured by her beauty,
But he was not aware of her true identity!
Thrilled to imagine myself heroine of such a story,
romance, and intrigue - part of a history and glory!
To some, my name symbolises a purple flower,
Which never fails to charm viewers’ hearts, in its bower.
To some others, it represents a graceful supple plant,
My mother thought I was a blessing which her God did grant!
My father exclaimed - she is the “garland” for me,
My daughter, my ultimate joy, a sublime beauty!
Many years they waited eagerly to embrace a girl,
My parents thought - they were gifted a gem purer than pearl.
Evoke and pray to Gods Varun* and Indra*
And to Apollo not to go on long vacation
Play hide and seek with the earth as kids do
And bring a rainbow with its rich colors to see.
Do not bring mausim** in excess
Even Nectar consumed in excess
Or any overdose creates havoc.
Bringing epidemics and floods
Destroying infrastructures.
Let the earth look as fresh as
A young girl after her shower.
Let creativity bloom for poets
To write poems on rain, as I do.
As it did to Shakespeare and Kalidas*
To write The Tempest and Meghdootam*
Two masterpieces of the two bards.
I hear thunder, I hear thunder
Don’t bring misery and hunger.
Kids be ready with your raincoats
Find the papers to make paper boats
Wearing the gumboots.
The Eastern winds beat me
As does the storm of my soul
I know, the storm fades away soon
Monsoon is still inside and outside.
+++
September 9, 2014
Form: Verse
Dr. Ram Mehta
First Place Win
Contest: Rainy Days by Leonara Ghalinta
*Varuna and Indra are the Aryan rain and storm gods respectively in Hinduism.
*The term 'monsoon' is derived from the Arabic word mausim which means a time or a season
*The great Indian dramatist Kalidasa wrote Meghdoot symbolically using clouds as
messenger. *Shakespeare too wrote The Tempest keeping thunderbolt and its implications in mind..
The Cloud Messenger
(On reading Meghadootam of Kalidasa)
Words fail to describe its exceeding beauty
Immortalized by the poet of matchless ability
Whose pen danced to the tunes of melody
That conferred on it the status of a celebrity.
Anyone with fondness for outstanding verse
Will at once fall in love with this masterpiece
Each stanza of this great grand composition
Offers immense joy that defies all explanation.
The pining of a lover separated from his love
So dexterously woven in a garland of verse
Depicts eloquently the best of emotive craze
Finds no equivalent in the sphere of literature.
Each word of the classic thoughtfully chosen
Stays untouched to be altered for no reason
The classic language in its finest expression
Makes the poet peerless among the pantheon.
Reading it is a constant source of enjoyment
Delving deep into it is a splendid excitement
Memorizing it is a praiseworthy achievement
And musing on its beauty is sheer merriment.
Little
may my love sound,
yet a bright star I do love,
Stella,
Who in the center of the sky,
being lulled in her mother’s lap,
does blink and wink on the sly to express her divine love.
To express my mortal love,
I wink and blink slyly,
yet she may not clearly see how desperately I do love.
Tell me a way to say my love, to show my love,
mortal love, to
Stella,
my brightest star.
Are earth and sky so far,
so I can’t send a message of love to my brightest star,
in the place of genuine love,
Stella,
my brightest star?
I have no skills to create a cloud of romance, as
Kalidasa,
a great poet, once did, so I’ll make a little,
so little kite to send my letter of love to my brightest star,
Stella.
I published my second collection of poems: "Love, Lust & Dust" in 2018.
Publisher: Sarasavi Publishers, Colombo.
Oct. 15, 2020
Have You Published Poetry Contest
Contest Sponsor: Line Gauthier
How fortunate do I feel,
when I think of my mother, deriving
my name from the classic story
by Kalidasa, the greatest Bard in Sanskrit -
The story about the Princess of Malawa,
who happened to be in disguise as a
humble dancer in the court of Prince Agnimitra!
The Prince was enamoured with her beauty and charm...
her magical voice and spectacular dance
made him swoon...
After some complicating chain of events,
the romantic story ended with their happy union!
So delighted to inherit the name of
the heroine of such a historical epic
with thrilling romance
and gripping intrigue!
My name means a beautiful flower, in Bengali,
a purple flower, graceful, delicate and fragrant…
My parents were joyful and ecstatic
when they had a daughter after a long wait...
an alluring flower’s name seemed
the best option to them, for their daughter!
The first part of my name means a “garland”
which my father pictured to be on his neck,
He imagined his daughter to be strong and brave,
yet kind and graceful!
He dreamed of his daughter becoming a powerful writer!
very unusual for those days, and for the country
where he lived!
Isn’t that a wonderful feeling when
one realizes how precious she must have
been to her beloved parents!
She was part of their dreams!
Appears a mysterious land from far,
Dream of vermilion sky at mystic dawn
Prayers heard from boats on holy river,
Mythical chants floating in consciousness.
My birthplace - ancient city reminding
Of vedas and epics, saints and hermits,
A land of literature, poetry,
Music, art, picturesque architecture...
For thousands of years verses flow in air
land of Kalidasa and Valmiki.
Many thousands of years ago, a group of wise men
found a star in the night-sky,
they knew it was a special star
in which written is their destination and their fate,
which finally directed them to their saviour.
Night-sky, an enigmatic experience,
surrounds me in an inexplicable obscure divinity of a celestial power.
I gaze at the darkness, a boundless indecipherable canopy over the universe,
with thousands of glittering stars, blinking in a vast puzzling sphere.
All my deepest thoughts, all my inward reflections
surround the mysterious constellation,
where I see one marvellous star...the purest one!
Some days, this mythical star descends to the earth
when I feel the unbearable grief of loneliness,
and it sings a sublime lullaby of far-away water-falls
streaming down the coral rocks ~
and I feel peaceful and serene as I never felt before.
My star “Ashwin”, to me, the brightest star in the constellation,
narrates all the incredible stories in the history of mankind -
of saints and warriors, of philosophers and poets,
of brave men and women and their fights through eternity -
of Joan of Arc, of Rani Lakshmibai, of Aristotle and Buddha,
of Kalidasa and Homer.
Inspires to heal the world undergoing incredible sufferings,
with the magical power it has instilled in human beings,
when my heart bleeds...with passions and longings,
love and heartbreak, sorrows and griefs,
there’s my star ~ gleaming and sparkling ~
embodying all my dreams and desires -
reminding the inevitability of separation and sadness in our life -
To me, the message written in the stars -
death is inevitable, but not the end.