A LAMENT

 

K. SUBBA RAO

(In memory of my brother late Professor K. Viswanatham)

 

            [Readers of “Triveni” may remember Prof. Viswanatham, a great scholar in English and a renowned teacher. He was a member of the Advisory Board of “Triveni”    – EDITOR]

 

            Brother Dearest!

 

                        Sudden’s thy departure,

                        To thy kith and kin, a torture,

                        How are we to know

                        The way; you took to go?

 

                        God gave us birth,

                        And rounds it with death.

                        Is it not a cruel fun?

                        Where is His love then?

           

            Brother Dearest!

 

                        No traces we see,

                        Blindly to follow thee,

                        We sit here

                        Shedding many a tear.

 

            Brother Dearest!

 

                        Where is thy love

                        For us now?

                        Together, we moved;

                        And life’s vagaries shared.

 

                        Have you no regrets

                        For our fractured hearts?

                        Daily we weep and pine

                        We who are thine.

 

                        With knowledge of their past

                        And future, men are not blest;

                        The reason, men say,

                        Is all God’s play.

 

            Brother Dearest!

 

                        If you’ve a body taken,

                        And we know where and when

                        A pilgrimage we make

                        Our spiritual thirst to slake.

 

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