DUETTO
(with a difference?)
(A)
Message Sans Mots
Come, Winds! what makes you shy of me?
I’ve only sighs to speak to you.
You, blowing across many a sea,
May breathe them out to a pining few.
Swell, Waves! O’er me, don’t waver any more;
Imbibe what currents-inside-me throw,
So you, who break at man, a shore,
For me, may touch some sloping low.
Shine, Sun! without any nimbus frill;
Take all my warmth–I am unwound–,
So you may salve the few who chill
And welcome you as you go around.
(B)
Grant me I speak for
them
Denuded roots, how roll!
The wrinkled trunk, how stares!
Glum branches! what’s your goal?
For these, how no one cares!
This poor twig curls a-writhe;
Dumb leaf here flutters, waves;
Mute buddie, you look unblithe!
I read what each one craves.
Neglected beautiful art,
This flower here more than sighs;
This fruit–with a chasmy heart!
Oh, smothered enterprise!
Around me, see, they hem–
They also need uplift.
Grant me I speak for them,
Or what’s the use of Your gift?
–K. S. R. SARMA, Cambridge (Mass)