Summer means spending my lunch hour at Battery park. Watching little children dance around in the interactive water fountain is one of many delights of my afternoon wanderings. On one such afternoon, I was reading “A Poem for CRY: Favorite Poems of Famous Indians” and came across this beautiful poem that touched my heart. It was written by Atal Bihari Vajpayee who served as India’s Prime Minister for many years in recent history.
so here it is…
“Dew drops
On the soft green grass
Were there a moment ago
No longer.
Everlasting happiness
Never existed
Anywhere.
When the sun
Rose from the womb of the
Cold October night
Stretched his legs in the lap
Of the eastern sky
Every leaf in my little garden
Wore lustre on its tips.
Shall I pray to the rising sun? Or
Search for the dew drops
Banished by his heat?
The sun is a reality
You cannot deny.
But the dew drops too
Is a reality, isn’t it?
It’s another matter it
Exists only for a moment.
Shouldn’t I too live
Each moment? Enjoy the beauty in
Each fragment?
The sun will rise again.
Of course, there’ll be
Sunshine all over again.
But the dew drop
On the soft green grass
In my little garden
Will not be there
In all seasons.”
With this poem, the author looks at the small things in life. We generally tend to look at the larger things in life, like the rising sun, which symbolizes power, but it is also important to take care of the small and transitory aspects of life, such as the dew drops that the rising sun causes to disappear. Sensitivity towards the poor, caring for the weak, greeting a child with a smile or savoring the ordinary joys of life– our fleeting moments should be filled with these. Needless to say, I am glad that I can savor the laughter of the little children playing in the fountain every day.
Have you got any favorite poems that you’d like to share…either the ones you have written or written by others?
