Palinode
A poet’s journey as goes on
A winding wobbly road
That hath many ups and downs known,
To me it scarce sounds odd
Were he to see dusk with the dawn,
To pen a revised ode.
Comes old age carrying child’s mirth,
Like bittersweet aged wine,
The old age takes when a new birth
To acquire tastes so fine,
Life seeming to look well its worth,
Not to whimper nor whine…
On themes that would refuse to wait
On what he thought and saw
And fancied at that given date,
Somewhat ripe, somewhat raw,
That nigh sooner but seldom late
Might no longer him awe.
Now, what’s said, a product of heart,
Is penned by a thinking head,
And framed nigh as poetic art,
May wart as time moves ahead,
A whole or just in tiny part,
What gets stuck is good as dead.
Show me a pen that hath not changed mind,
No pen writes on a stone,
That never does need for change find,
Brain’s no ossified bone,
I therefore am so inclined
To think: Pens change their tone.
And when at last they do so
On a poetic crossroad
At the end of long go-no-go,
They revise their old ode,
A doubt there’s, nor shadow,
It is a Palinode.
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Musings |02.05.2024| change
Poet’s note: A Palinode is an Ode or song recanting or retracting on something said earlier (Greek: palinoidia= back/again, and aeidein= to sing). It was Ogden Nash who once wrote: Candy/Is dandy,/But liquor/Is quicker.
But he later added in what can be called a Palinode: But makes me sicker.
Copyright ©
Aniruddha Pathak
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