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* * *

The Sounds of Silence

Absences too long,

Longings too painful to bear.

Hopes cruelly dashed;

Despair unwillingly embraced.

In silence, I wept.  

Wounds canyon deep,

Hurts unwilling to heal.

Heart heavy day and night,

Memories unwilling to fade.

In silence, I screamed.  

Mistakes, like crumbling walls

On both sides to mend.

Sorries, like unmentionables

On both sides waiting to be said.

In silence, I prayed.  

Prayers went unanswered,

Wishes that drew blanks.

Lamps burning, no light.

Sun shining, but no warmth.

In silence, I froze.  

My insides burnt,

I was all afire.

I found nothing for solace

My tormented soul to soothe.

In silence, I yelled.  

I waited till dusk;

I was there since dawn

To embrace you once more.

As always, you never came.

In silence, I cried.  

TD  Fuego II

 

* * *

ASPIRATION’S END

Snake of time-

            loath to recoil

slithers, hisses, knows no impediment,

            and swallows all;

on its way

             it coils, constricts,

crunches the toughest terrestrial prey.

 

Snake of time creeps

             in the lush grass

of our playing field; it sucks

             up our dreams

fears and foibles,

             our unfinished businesses,

our vaulting ambitions.

 

Snake of time takes an eternity

            to digest its earthly bounty,

writhing into the fundus of infinity.

* * *

FROM ON HIGH PLEA

Let me feel

through the swirling mist

the sanctity amidst

the surreal.

Let me glimpse

the power of piety

and all its holy panoply

as I humbly admit being amiss.

Let me transiently sense

the rapture of a prayer

and shed life’s earthly layer,

to discover transcendence.

Let me for a moment

re-imagine the innocence

from a distance

of blissful benign times spent

in supplications here

with father, dear.

Jeewan Ramlugun

 * * *

WHAT’S A WEED?

First on the scene

after the Luftwaffe blitzed East London

were weeds: bracken, thorn apple, ragwort,

willow-herb from the rubble did sprout

stubbornly-the eerie re-christened bomb weeds.

The fatigue camouflages of the combat comrades

did not compare with nature’s die-hard, yet humble

downtrodden species, ever ready to dissemble

to survive.Shapeshifters they became,

repositioning and re-tinting –still the same.

Till now, perversely, the plantain

despite underfoot abuse suffers no pain,

even better for it , as it  thrives.

Another, danish scurvy grass survives

the choking emissions on the motorways.

Buddleia, modest and spartan stays

Unperturbed on soilless surfaces.

But, it’s been a love-hate affair

with humans, everywhere.

Nettles, cherished by the Romans,

were carried with armoury and chattels

to foreign shores.

Though woodlands’ foes,

rhododendrons remain in gardeners’ affections;

and the medicinal virtues of garden pests have struck

a common chord with all concerned with physic:

among these yarrow, comfrey, burdock and heartese.

However hard weeds have tried to please,

their detractors have a long history;

in medieval times, they were considered akin to devilry

with imprecatory name-calling to extirpate them:

devil’s claws and devil’s fingers being part of the stratagem.

A weed is ‘just a plant, in the wrong place, at the wrong time’.

Jeewan Ramlugun

* * *

Anti Conversion Law 

So much is being said about on ‘anti Conversion Law’ that is to stop one from changing from one religion to another, especially concerning the Hindus. From what I read in News on Sunday 12-18 Nov, even SAJ in his wisdom opposes it. How can we have such a law? We must be really dumb even to think about it.

We live in a democracy and we are free to choose our faith and way of life. Maurice est un Etat laïc. According to the Voice of Hindu there is an urgent need for an anti-conversion law. Who will vote for it? It’s like the cat, the mouse and the bell.

Why are so many of our Hindu brothers and sisters leaving the fold to join other denominations? That’s the question that should be addressed dispassionately by our socio-religious organizations with the help of sociologists and other social activists. Our socio-religious leaders would do well to reflect upon this question and take any corrective measures rather than pandering to the whims and caprices of politicians.

Many Hindus have jumped on that bandwagon and hundreds more will join in the future. But what puzzles me is why their women still drape the saree.

Mona. R. Babajee
Port-Louis

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* Published in print edition on 10 December 2010

Tags:Anti Conversion Law, ASPIRATION’S END, Jeewan Ramlugun, Mauritius Times, Mona. R. Babajee, Readers’ Response, SAJ, Sounds of Silence