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| Kadam Flowers |
The
word memory or remembering takes me to a beautiful song by Tagore where he
presents the triumph of poetry / songs over time / mortality. The song reads
like this :
Monsoon’s first Kadam* bloom
is your boon,
I am to offer here my Shravan** tunes.
Dim cloud’s cool shade is their shield,
The first golden harvest of
my melody field.
You present today
you may not, in the morrow—
For your bereft boughs
will be steeped in sorrow.
To honor you, the songs of mine
Will keep sailing back each Shravan
Riding the tides of the deluge
Of your stream of oblivion.
(*Kadam
generally blooms during the monsoon.
**Shravan
is the second month of the rainy season.
The song is composed in Bengali. The translation is mine and I feel this English version lacks matching tone, diction and rhythm of the original song.)
The poet triumphantly says Kadam flowers in his verse will live on in an alternate reality when there’s no bloom left after the monsoon.
So memories can give life to things that no longer exists.
Adlestrop by Edward
Thomas captures an unexpected serene moment of a peaceful era only a short time
before the outbreak of the First World War. And the harsh reality is that he
was killed in the War even before the poem was published. The poem itself remains
as a memory as it were of a poet and an idyllic scene.
You
are asked to write a memory poem today. It can be your own experiences or
someone else’s. Memories related to places, people, time, events and to anything
you feel connected to are welcome.
A
Haiku from Matsuo Basho for your inspiration :
A
weathered skeleton
in
windy fields of memory
piercing
like a knife
Please link one poem that is your response to the
material of this prompt. When you link your poem please visit other links in
the spirit of the community.
