Jun 2014
I was sold to pain
in a slave market
that didn't look like one,
auctioned by a civilized crowd
of people just like you and me
in everyday life,
posing as my comrades, acolytes or lovers.
I stood firm on my ground
unrelenting even in pain's intimidation
and said, what Valmiki
the first poet found,
"Grief gushes out in verse"
and I sing
alone.
in a slave market
that didn't look like one,
auctioned by a civilized crowd
of people just like you and me
in everyday life,
posing as my comrades, acolytes or lovers.
I stood firm on my ground
unrelenting even in pain's intimidation
and said, what Valmiki
the first poet found,
"Grief gushes out in verse"
and I sing
alone.
Poet Valmiki, according to Indian tradition, wrote the first epic poem "Ramayana" in Sanskrit millenniums ago, known as Adi Kavya(first poem) .Adi Kavi(First poet) Valmiki, uttered his first verse in anguish without even realizing it as a new form of expression.He saw a cruel hunter killing the male among a pair of doves making love, oblivious of the world."Hunter, don't.." gushed out the anguish in the form of verse..the first ever. The theme extended in to the story of King Rama's life and the grief he embraces to remain a ruler true to his subjects.
