Four Decades and a Poem

By Lencio Rodrigues

Every human is born with a soul that tends to human pain. It's natural. But also natural is to lose it in the process of "growing up". We ignore where we came from and where we are marching to in this fleeting journey. Focused on our selfish motive we do not care about the damage we have done to our universe. Four Decades and a Poem is deeply human and reminds people of this missing factor, taking you through a trail of emotions. Written in various forms, old and contemporary, the book teaches you that there is more to life than just living.

This is not about preaching or asking for unwanted change. As a city dweller, I am of the understanding that we are legally bound by social, cultural and political rights and yet of the knowledge that nothing can take our right to be human and no one, the right to steal that of another. Then, no change is needed.

Included are topics on child abuse, girl child, alcoholism and youth issues besides others that call you to make your own decision and fathom the depth of your soul.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 20, 2011
• ISBN: 9781467050166

Lencio Rodrigues

Lencio Rodrigues, Business Analyst for a Canadian Immigration Law Firm provides consultancy services to business immigrants. Raised in Goa, India, Lencio now lives in Dubai and has his work published in various anthologies and magazines. Last year, he has been honored by His Lordship, Paul Hinder, the Bishop of the vicariate of Arabia, with an award for the "Year of the Priest" poetry contest held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Lencio has also created his own form of poetry called the Lento.

Book preview

Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

Indigo Lips -

A Poet’s Sonnet

Scents and Essence of the Seventies

The Immortality of Mother

Ode to the Golden Cosmos

Tributo ao Cosmos Dourado

Claudia

The Monster

Grandma’s Attic

Cucumber Thieves

Sugar

Our Fishermen

Missing

Tamarind Seeds and Sweet Potatoes

Iced Candies

Pauline

Summer Scent

of 70’s

Learning from

the best

Rosewater and a Fairytale

The Prince Lost his Crown

Jano’s Ballad

Early Lessons

The Big House

Face in the Ashes

Sighs of a Virgin ~ Shakespearean Sonnet

Variety

Of The

Eighties

Secrets

Food for Thought

Silence

The Millionaire (Monorhyme)

Notice Board

Tongue Twister

Unspoken Goodbyes

What Then?

Kites ~ Tanka a Suite

Hick! anazer zrink bleezz

Body, Mind and Soul

Ranjo Macaro

The Calling

Forlorn

The Rose

Another gate and Pomelos

When the Wandering

is Over

Watered Down

Take Him Home

Ready

The Peepal Leaf

What Dreams Could Come ~ For the Unborn Children

Kannel ~

The Lake of Renewal

Neighbors

Paper Boats

Cursing Sr. Joan

If God wasn’t good…

Embrace

Bloody Tears

Nature’s Palette

Opening Envelopes and Storytelling

Athletes’ Feet - Tanka

Let Flowers Die

Wind Songs

Vampire’s Reprisal

Dolly

That last Day in 1987

Nuances of the

Nineties

Sipping Significance

of Life

Discovering

Crystal

Children Come, Children Go

The Reflection

Forget the Umbrella

Empty

The Friday Mapusa Market

Toy Train (Rictameter)

Halfway Home

When Night Turns to Day and Vice Versa

Asylum

Is this sentence false?

Life’s Simple Code

Mysterious Stranger

Blissful Revenge

Paralyzed

Doubtful Shadow

Dj

Cherry Blossom

Accompanying

One Sided

A Mother’s Lament

The Strength of a Man

The Yellow Leaves of Autumn

Beyond the Horizon

Evaporating

Off Balance

An Ode to Myself

Love and Lust: A Perfect Spell

Lost Pages

Love has no appearance

A Life Still Beautiful

The Unsung Village Hero ~ For Dileep

Leaving No Spaces

The Builder

An Artist’s Portrait

Santa’s Mailroom

Pieces of Emotion

Retired Teachers

Running on Green (for those who use their feet)

Waiting to Reconnect

Two Sonnets on My Departing

Girl-child ~ Living is Harder Than Dying

Thoughts of the New Millennium

Life Goes On (Lento)

A Ride With Lady Godiva

The Masseur on Bank Street

Whispers of the tulips

Fortune Reading

Typical Tramp ~ Alliterisen

Morayshire ~

The High Dreamland

Tonight I Set Out at Sea

Lost

Appreciation

Half a Sonnet for Lucifer

My Fantasy

Barbara

Wine Fest!

Goa: The Silent Noise

The Overhead Bridge

The Invisible Overhead Bridge

Wedding Visuals ~

Alliterisen

That One Moment ~

For The Youth

Lebanese Restaurant

Spiraling Smoke ~ Alliterisen

Monday Lemonade

The Opposite Window

Pearl’s Dance ~ An Inverted Sonnet

Horn of Africa

Arabian Sunset

Come With the Wind and Dance ~ For Rouvier

Trolley Jam

The Truth About my Land (Double Rictameter)

Junk

Parking Officer on Nasr Square

Perfect Peace

Cities of the Century

Nights at Casbah

In The Mirror

Auntie Mary’s Heaven

Origami Wish

Driving, Driving Me Nuts!!!

Of Old Souq and the Press

Dubai Metro Line and September Nine Eternity

Pack of Cherries

Beneath Your Strange Silence (Monchielle)

Cacophonic Torture

The Other Laundryman

The Coupon - Seduction Versus Talent

The Legend of Our Time, Gone Too Soon

Early Morning Office

Lonely seagull and a million fishes

The Sculpture

Ode to the Elevator

Chef Mommy

When the City Sleeps

The Face of God

Amateur

Mint and Honey

One Christmas at Farmville! (Zynga)

Unstitched Wear

Sketches and Splashes

Brainless in Transit!

Mother’s Visit

Until then…

The Top Floor

Time Changes Everything

War is Over…

Hailstones and Rain

Lasting Impressions

Woman

Self Portrait

I Learn

Open Wounds

Unknown

Unseen, Uninterrupted

Forgotten Endings

Stillborn Joy

Silent Auction

Bare necks cry for gold

Breaking News

Our Freedom

Denunciation ~ Lento

THE POEM

Glossary of terms

HOW TO WRITE A LENTO

Frame2.psd

A tribute to my grandmother, Mary Josephine Pinto.

Acknowledgements

My most precious family – you are in my heart, always.

St. Mary’s Church English Choir – Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Mario de Miranda for contributing his marvelous artwork.

- Loutolim, Salcette, Goa

Gerard da Cunha of Architecture Autonomous

- Torda, Salvador do Mundo, Bardez, Goa

Pearl D’silva, my three year old cheer-girl

Antônio Carlos Januário for the splendid rendition of Ode to the Golden Cosmos

- Pouso Alegre, Brazil.

Kevin Watt and everyone at All Poetry for their tremendous support.

Amanda Warren, Alyson Bell and Rudy Thomas of AuthorHouse, USA

All my friends in Goa and United Arab Emirates.

and lastly,

All the readers.

Preface

Today, one would certainly find it brow-raising to discover a deluge of young people into poetry – written and the spoken word. I am glad that the last two decades have given me the opportunity to meet these like-minded people, share thoughts and touch lives. I am truly grateful to my most exotic childhood and how it has influenced my life and my poetry today: the vast raw grounds strewn with crisp leaves that whimpered beneath our feet and fields that nurtured little frogs and mysteries sketched on farmers’ faces. It was here that my poetry began, traveling with me, with my lifestyle and places I have been and now dipping in the ink of this urban buzz.

In this shrinking cosmos and fast-paced e-world, despite the fact that people are slumped in their chairs in front of their computers, poetry still remains a thing of the time, and there is nothing more exhilarating than to capture moments and paint them in words just as how a music composer does with notes that are hammered inside his brain and then bringing them to the world outside it as a beautiful song, tethered by his inner-most feelings. It is but connectivity between the subject and the soul.

There is a hidden poet in each of us. Many of us feel things, and imagine things, and say things. Some simply scribble them in their diary, while others inclined, relate themselves to what’s been written by others and feel as though those words were theirs. Poetry to me is about sensibility whereby it affects both – the reader and its writer.

From tranquil-traumatic tales of the village to the flamboyance of the city, Four Decades and a Poem is a collection of my literary work showcasing the experiences of my life, my dreams and my thoughts. Here, you will find various behavioral aspects of people in time, the tones they live their lives and how it changes with modernization, affecting our life, our society. I thank all those who walked the journey on this road with me and have been a part of this tapestry – the four stunning decades.

Indigo Lips -

A Poet’s Sonnet

Her lubricity excites my impotent cells,

rejuvenates my passion one more time,

my thoughts kiss her, and she ~ her inkwell,

playing for me her most splendid rhyme.

Unfailing, her love, constant her laud,

whispering thoughts not so familiar,

leaving me intoxicated, thrilled, awed…

as my thoughts drink her indigo liqueur.

She speaks of daydreams and secrets,

of a life, place and time: unknown,

she sees through me, painting portraits,

sketching depths in happy or aching tone.

She writes my life as I hold her gently,

she’s the one I adore most: She is me…

Scents and Essence of the Seventies

The Immortality of Mother

I know of the One who created me,

The One we all talk about,

The Almighty, the intangible,

The One without creed, shape or visible beauty.

I know of the one who bore me,

She exists in the image of my God,

a woman I adore,

She is all mighty, tangible

with love written on her face,

love infinitely pouring from her heart,

synonym of love,

symbol of womanhood,

one I see in my mother’s divinity and grace.

I know of the one who creates peace,

the one in whom I find solace,