Poetry that end in wisdom
 The
American poet Robert Frost said of poetry: Poetry begins with delight
and ends in wisdom. I found this true in a collection titled 'Poems to
Ponder' by Lalitha Somathilaka, a retired teacher of English for 24
years who also worked as the librarian of WHO office in Colombo.
She has published a storybook in English for children titled Sudu
Puncha and Sookiri Puncha and a collection of her short stories titled
Not beyond the Horizon. Subsequently she has brought out two other
books: 'Poems to Ponder' and 'Gems and Pebbles'. Almost all the 54 poems
in 'Poems' have philosophical or ethical overtones that underlie wisdom
we often ignore.
Her structure of the poems is formal and has an inner rhythm. The
content of her poems can be explained through her endings which sound
sincere. We shall see some of them:
In one sense we are all prisoners of life of our own seeking and may
be victim of circumstances. In her first poem, 'The Prisoner' referring
to a rat caught in a trap and released by a kind soul, the poet
concludes the last two stanzas thus:
"The Master has showed us the correct path
To bury our sins and to curb our lust.
Turning a deaf ear to all His teachings
Still we are suffering inside a cell.
Bound with pleasures of this fleeting life.
Blind to the torments of grief and strife.
We suffer today, tomorrow and forever,
Until we bury the lust and desire.
"The Sea of Life"
Sea and life, life and sea.
Is there a difference No, not at all
Rolling back, coming again
Sansara, this never-ending sea.
Life will roll on, like the endless waves
Until the day we enter the bliss.
The place with peace and tranquility.
Nirvana-where we will find the peace.
"Life- A Large Grey Cloud"
Life with all its ups and downs,
Dashes at times, floats smoothly too.
Facing the music, sweet or sour,
Until the end -the inevitable death
Si is the dark grey cloud in the sky
Meets its death, its usual end.
Pouring down in torrents o trickles,
Like tears that float the en our death.
"Walking Among the Dead"
The rich, the poor, the learned, the powerful,
They all meet here at a common ground.
Yet the monuments big, small or none
Expose the lives, those sleeping underground.
The poet in most of her poems relate the inevitable sorrow and the
inevitable ends in life, but I would have liked her to show the positive
sides of life and to live happily at least from moment to moment. There
is a change of tone in some of the subsequent poems. Like the above I am
quoting only the relevant lines as the poems are simple and
self-explanatory.
"Tears of Life"
Tears of joy, tears of sorrow,
Tears that mirror all phases of life.
Tears of life until the end
Is this the life what God has sent?
"Life is a Challenge"
Life is full of ups and downs,
You'll meet them along as you travel.
No doubt, they'll make you smile or frown.
Be happy, through them a knowledge you've gained.
Face them all, be they sweet or sour
Look unto them with an open mind.
Think that the life is a challenging ground
That will make you a winner at the end.
"Life a Flowing River"
Life is like the river that flows
Hardships are barriers we meet on our way.
Smooth is the life if it pauses only vales,
I am stopping at page 14 as the pages extend to 83. Though the
themes in the poems
might look commonplace at first reading they reflect truths and wisdom
and simple
without any complexities of images. I like it that way. This book is
published by the
Department of Cultural Affairs and available from the author at 62,
Peiris Mawatha,
Kalubowila, Dehiwela.
[email protected] |
