Dew Drops: A Collection of Poems

By Rodrick Rajive Lal

This book contains an assorted collection of poems that deal with life in its various forms.Spanning two different continents, it celebrates the rich cultural diversity of life in both countries - Ethiopia with its unique and rich Old Testament culture, and India with its rich mix of ancient rituals, traditions and spicy food. It is about all the complex emotions that affect us - joy, sadness, bitterness, acceptance and ultimately and understanding that comes from experience. The collection contains poems that deal with profound themes and also poems that reflect the memories of childhood. You don't read the book at one go, but go through each poem savoring each one with its distinct flavor.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing India
• Release date: Jun 18, 2014
• ISBN: 9781482833751

Rodrick Rajive Lal

Rodrick Rajive Lal is the author of ‘Dew Drops: A Collection of Poems’, ‘The Andromeda Connection’, ‘A Journey in Time’ (a collection of short stories), and the science fiction romance novel ‘The Other Side of Love: Beyond A Shadow of Doubt’. He is a vociferous reader and a keen observer who likes describing stories that draw inspiration from the myriad hues of life. Born in Addis Abeba, the capital city of Ethiopia, he now lives with his wife and two daughters in Gurgaon (Delhi NCR), India, and teaches English to high school students.

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Copyright © 2014 by Rodrick Rajive Lal.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-4828-3376-8

                eBook           978-1-4828-3375-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

To order additional copies of this book, contact

Partridge India

000 800 10062 62

[e-mail]

www.partridgepublishing.com/india

Contents

1.   Whispers of the Shamans

2.   Fireflies

3.   Alpha City

4.   The Thunderbirds

5.   On seeking to drink from The Golden Chalice

6.   If only thy chosen ones were the true guides!

7.   Betrayal

8.   Restless Minds

9.   The Purple Host

10.   A traveller of Life

11.   If Tomorrow does Dawn!

12.   My Last Valhalla

13.   Standing before the Crossroad of Life

14.   A Hundred Things to do before I go

15.   A Spring Song of Love

16.   A tribute to the Blossoms of Life

17.   A New Year’s Song

18.   On Preparing for life after school

19.   Saba, Queen of Axum

20.   The lonely journey of a Ras

21.   An African Dream

22.   A Teacher’s Farewell

23.   A World of Words

24.   A Free Flight

25.   Ten Poems about Life – Songs of the Sage

Godfather

Celebrating Success

Marriage

Childhood

Friends

Children

The Beloved

Prized Possessions and Gadgets

Money and Riches

Defeat

26.   Building Blocks

27.   Thorns of Life

28.   Sleeping in the Cold

29.   Honey Bees

30.   Life is a Rose

31.   Ripples

32.   At the Dentist’s

33.   A Journey through thirteen months of Sunshine

34.   Almaz

35.   A Sad Story

36.   The Street Child

37.   By the Green Fields of Haryana

38.   The Lone Rider

39.   The Birth of Tsunami

40.   On Building a School for You

41.   A Child’s Dream

42.   A Dusty World

43.   A Day in a classroom

44.   Tribute

45.   Contemplation

46.   A Mercy Offer

47.   By the Banks of the Alaknanda

48.   A Spider’s Song

49.   Behind everything in life a purpose be!

50.   At the Building Site

51.   Life is But a Shadow-Virtual Musings

52.   Can Happiness be had from a Leper’s Cart?

53.   The Prayer Tower

54.   The Upper Room

55.   A Pesky Bird

56.   Childhood Games

57.   Kara

58.   In the company of Hypocrites

59.   Empty Promises

60.   Promises of a Bright Morning

61.   A Serenade

62.   Sweet Dreams

63.   Burnt Fingers

64.   A Slice of Life

65.   Cytheria

66.   The Island of Monks

67.   Driving with Bullock Carts

68.   An Indian Bride

69.   A Field of Flowers

70.   Walking down the Path of Life

71.   The Sleepers

72.   A Song for a Dream

73.   Tears

74.   Why Crucify Him again?

75.   On being told not to write poetry

76.   The Sermon

77.   Song of the Woodpecker

78.   Kaboom!

79.   The Lost Son

80.   Guenet, my Princess

81.   Tigiste, my Love

82.   An Island at War

83.   A Morning Walk

84.   When the Mind is in Great Turmoil

85.   Off to School

86.   A Tribute to my Teacher

87.   An Invocation to my Muse

88.   The River of Life

89.   Freedom

90.   Stolen Glances

91.   An Ode to a Sparrow that was

92.   Save the Tiger

93.   Those Unforgettables

94.   Easter Lilies- A Poem

95.   Rumours-A poem for all ages

96.   Memorabilia A Poem

97.   The Gutenberg Children - A Poem

98.   Lying on the white sands by the Ganga

99.   A Dance of the Constellations

100.   Bubbles

101.   Is this life all there is?

102.   Money plant

103.   Morning Magic

104.   On Choosing to Step off the Beaten Track

Dedication

This is for my muses, my parents - Frederick and Ivy, for inspiring me in every way and

My wife, Nidhi for being patient and understanding!

Whispers of the Shamans

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Weak are they that set out to efface the presence of others before them,

They hack and scratch, demolish and paint over all of them

That were before, believing that removing their symbols

Would grant them greater stability!

Alas! It requires great effort to change the course of History with few hacks

The image might get blurred; the nose crumbles, but those attacks

Would not the spirit defy nor bury the story that the past will

Narrate - of greatness, something will surely survive!

So they graft their own images over what was there, thinking they would last,

And so it happens when the sands of time do run, the images of the past

Emerge from below as the falsehood crumbles like earth to dust

In a quake! It’s difficult to erase the past from the walls!

So do weak, fickle men, go about their tasks of hacking and gouging,

That which preceded them before, they’d think that removing

The images would grant them stability, but then that would

Never be, for who could strangle the spirit of the past?

Of fierce men lead by the Nazgull, (who drove the hordes into ghettos) none remain,

While of those that blasted the statues of Bamiyan, only fragments remain!

Fashions, and rulers come and go, to replace those that came before,

A few last, Others wither, but of the spirit, none could erase!

Of Atlantis nothing does remain but whispers of a great people far advanced

In technology, but then were they overwhelmed by the seas that advanced

On a nation to obliterate all traces of a people who’d not perish,

And so did Plato speak of them, their spirit does survive!

For who might silence the voices of the past? Where civilizations come

And go, each a voice to remind in times to come,

That of the spirit of the past none could

Erase! The voice remains.

And those that attempt to rewrite or erase the images of the past

Should learn from Plato, of Atlantis though submerged,

The whispers even the seas could not silence!

The voice remains.

Fireflies

Like fireflies we flit across the dark sky to burn-lighting up

The dark as the night draws to an end. But little realize

That time does flow quickly, and so do our lives. If only we

Had the wisdom to conserve the glow to last till dawn!

With a glow so bright we light up the night so dark-meteors

That burn fiery trails across the sky, alas, so brief! Lives

Wasted in ambitions petty, bickering amongst ourselves,

While sands of time do flow right through fingers loose!

All the while time does flow, so to light the dark skies with

Glows so bright, where jealousy and greed burn out through.

Tapers flickering in sparks reach the end and burn-out with

Renewed futility till the night does last and dawn does come.

Genius and greed and ambitions do fuel, while jealousy, brings

Up the rear, to burn the night with sparks so bright! But the

Night they last, moments too few, to see the bright rays of

The rising sun. All transfixed in a race for success and fame!

And so we burn, to compete with the Sun’s own rays, only to

Be put down with the coming of dawn while sand does flow on!

Alpha City

Glancing up at the sky early in the morn, before the sun had risen

And the entire world did rest, covered by a large blanket of sleep,

I stepped out of my home for a brisk walk. But at once did stop

My foot as glancing up at the clear sky saw more than the common

Number of stars and celestial bodies. Curious, I looked further!

And I was full of the desire to see more!

And Lo, saw I a large city etched on the firmament, well defined