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Best Poems From
SHANTO ARMONDE
(15, May - 1987)
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9.
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Aegean Tears
Before spreads the pure sea-sight
Blue embraced by the dying sunlight
From this high cliff-edge I call
To thundering Zeus: 'avert his fall'
The happy immortal and lawgiver
In whose name many a young heifer
Had I put to peace
I ask:
Where the sea touches the sky
Let my son's ships come by
And have the leading one in white sail
Be blown full by the northern gale
Let gallant Theseus take my crown
My castle too and exceed my renown
Let his children gather around his knees
Oh high Olympus dwellers, heed my dire pleas
But now I see against the red heavens
And my heart leaps, joy awakens!
Brave black ships, they have arrived!
Rising, restoring color to a face deprived
But
The heart leaps once more, but this time
In fright at the gods ungodly crime
Black sails I sight, and blacker my soul becomes
My core beats like the loud war-drums
And soon my view is by tears obscured
By this grief that cannot be endured
No son to carry my name, my riches and kingdom ended
Was it worth for such an adventure, a prince expended?
My tears fly into the ocean, my cries towards the gods
But unlike earth and water, my mind is not at odds
Off to Hades I am, to reunite with my son
To ask him what had him undone
Was it the labyrinth where he lost his way?
Or was it the beast, had he failed to slay?
But most I want to embrace him declare
That we are reunited by my despair!
Shanto Armonde
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10.
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An Escape
Love is fleeting,
Yet broken hearts never mend...
Joy lasts but a moment in life,
But never dies from memory...
Misery is a cage,
Happiness is the escape...
Death is the end to pleasure.
Birth is the beginning of misery...
Dreams unlived keep us striving,
Dreams fulfilled signal our end...
Growing richer with wisdom every passing day
Robbed of life with the passing of every hour...
Heaven provides us with hope,
Just as hell reins our desires...
Happiness maybe ephemeral,
But so is our existence...! ! !
Shanto Armonde
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11.
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Appeal To Fate
Let not the strength of my spirits wane
With age, and through my love profane
Bring me triumph
Preserve my ever precious sanity
And guard me from charming vanity
And deny me
The sweet siren calls
Lead me to the halls
Of knowledge
Before the sight
Of beauteous and fair Nike
Forsakes me...
Shanto Armonde
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12.
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Born To Die Again
Newborn sun climbs the sky with slothful pace
Critters leap to life, and so does the human race.
It frightens the moon and usurps the night,
It laughs in triumph as the stars take flight...
It lends color to the living, and all cheeks turn red
And men and women live with careless tread.
It scares off the clouds, who ask to share the day,
So lovers, blooming andyoung can love away...
The fish begin to play in the glistening streams
That absorbs the beauty of its golden beams.
But at its zenith, its piercing rays scathe the soil!
And winds turn scorching as their tempers boil...
The happiness fades away with the blinding heat
The sun’s love had turned to hate-unforeseen deceit!
People run for shelter from its merciless beating!
So the sun relents at the sight of crowds fleeing...
The weary lot now rejoice and praise its compassion.
Once again the streets are filled in every-day fashion.
But now the glowing orb begins to foreswear its powers
As air fills with soothing scents of the evening flowers...
The gloomy body, jaded by the day, begins to fall
Richer in experience, but now just a sad, radiant ball.
It cries in pain, and sheds its blood, marring the sky
But its calls go unheeded! Short of hope, it begins to die...
Long dormant moon lying in anger and filled with vengeance
Now seizes the moment; exploits the sun’s feeble defense.
The sun grows weaker still, and fails to bear the weight
Stars return and the stealing darkness seals his fate...
So ends a lifetime of joy and misery in the sun’s life,
A lifetime in a day, and a day replete with bitter strife.
But fret not, for he will be born again, to relive the pain,
Born to live a day - born to return and reclaim his reign.
Shanto Armonde
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