Triveni Journal
1927 | 11,233,916 words
Triveni is a journal dedicated to ancient Indian culture, history, philosophy, art, spirituality, music and all sorts of literature. Triveni was founded at Madras in 1927 and since that time various authors have donated their creativity in the form of articles, covering many aspects of public life....
Flame in the Window
Srirangam Narayana Babu (Rendered by R. Appalaswami from the Original Telugu Poem)
(Rendered by R. Appalaswami from the original Telugu poem)
Serene as the mind of a sage
Where the senses no longer rage,
Straight as the tongue
Of a bell and as long,
Bright as its bronze-note,
From the window-sill,
So secure and so still,
A flame on the Cosmos unwinking doth gloat!
This side the wall
In the hall,
The light
Doth grow dense as it slowly congeals:
Without is the Darkness immense,
So quiet, so tense,
With right
At its heart some sharp light-perpetrated fresh weals.
Hell and Heaven,
Blest, bereaven,
Death and life,
Peace and strife,
Knowledge immense,
Crass ignorance,
–There’s all the difference.
Ah for the vow I’ve ta’en
Not to inflict or e’en
Witness inflicted pain,
Within on the wall
Countless jivas crawl
For light,
And by a hungry lizard crunched
Are quenched
Into night.
As a sucking baby’s choking-fit
Doth into sudden activity burst
A gust�
Beyond the wall Darkness doth chuckle a bit,
In the window the flame in the wind’s grip
Doth shake like one spirit-possessed,
And trembling stands awhile the test,
Then elongating like a rubber-strip,
And elongating snaps the flame.
Within, without
Darkness doth shout
The same...
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Is it the fallen all-extending knife?
Supervenes a gush of the mystery of life!