Best Iyer Poems

The beggar in my street
The subject of my hate
An eyesore I felt he was
The old man with his plate

Sunshine or rains, chill or heat
Never had I pity for his fate
Yet he had that toothy grin
The old man with his plate

Mosquitoes crowned his head
Flies and insects...

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Translation of Oothukkadu Venkata Subba Iyer (circa 1700-1765)’s « THAYE YASHODA » by T. Wignesan


This devotional song and poem in Tamil (the principal Dravidian language which has spawned over twenty languages in the southern Indian sub-continent) is –unlike
Western poetical traditions – strictly composed to accord...

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Translation of Mahakavi Bharathiyar’s poem: “Asai Mugam” or “Beloved Face”
                                   ...

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Men worship women
                       Great culture that we are
               ...

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THE FORTUNE SEEKER 


The parrot peeps through the tiny window

The fortune teller coaxes it to take a bow

Expecting keenly the parrot from the cage

to come out and gently pick a page

to tell his future; the young man wants to know



Looking at the ceiling, he recalls...

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Like a breath of fresh air
My cheek brushed by the aroma of her hair
Her shining eyes melted my soul
Listen to my heart beat!
It dances to  a new beat

She breezed past like a heaveny fairy
I walked behind like a transfixed devotee
She walked,  I walked
She...

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Know not when you sleep
             sleep is bliss so is death
                      Discern...

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We are the kings
in our well we call home
we fight with our siblings
live a twin life
for us and for others


Outside our homes
we see a bigger well
everyone calls it a town
a village or a city
or the entire world


Many are kings here
they fight with each other
all live...

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The fire keeps burning
No water to quench
Look at the sky
The air is so dry
No moist clouds
To bring the rains around
Many trees have vanished
The earth looks parched
Before we are left dead
Let us keep the fire burning
Give back to the earth
Restore the trees anon
Bring back the rain
To...

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Rushing from the balcony
Inside the house
The kid hides under the bed
Mama searches for him
With a bowl of food in her hand

“No Mama, I ain’t hungry”
Says the kid as mama spots him
“Come here, my naughty boy
The moon is waiting for you”
The reluctant kid follows his mom

It’s...

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Temple – not an abode of God

Idol – only a piece made by man

To see his reflection in ruse of worship

The Powerful can see power

The Rich can see riches

Poor see poverty

The more one donates, the more he gets

The more one pleads and cries, Grief is...

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When we met that day, we were strangers at bay
Seeking a companion, my eyes met yours with gay
An unwritten bond enveloped you and me
Destined to be life partner everyday
 
Days and months and years passed
Our relationship changed tracks by the way
My love demanded sex, yours...

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Justification is the only recourse 
When truth starts sounding bitter 
They will convince you 
They will argue with you 
They will beat you 
They will kill you 
They will idolize you 
Like a stagnant pool stand you 
They breed out of you 
You become the...

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Who created us 
We do not know 
We created the God 
We created it's forms 
We created the religion 
We created the traditions 
We named the sun 
We named the moon 
We named the universe 
We created the languages 
We created the boundaries 
We created...

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I shall compare Hinduism with a faith centered on Jesus & show why I cannot worship as a Hindu now. I need to clear a few things ahead of any armchair pundits.

Those who have read more than two of my poems will know I respect...

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