POETRY

"REQUIEM" - by Robert Louis Stevenson Under the wide and starry sky, Dig the grave and let me lie. Glad did I live and gladly die, And I laid me down with a will This be the verse you grave for me: Here he lies where he longed to be; Home is the sailor, home from sea, And the hunter home from the hill.           THE END

Now, viewing poetry from the perspective of mindscapes, I suppose you may have already noticed that they are faster journeys through mindscapes than books. Your journey is in 'hops' instead of 'steps.' The same distance that you cover in about 10 pages of a book are covered by about two lines of poetry. Why? Because the poet is a master at covering large mindscape territory using literary devices, prose-poetry, imagery, surreal expressions and to an extent, subliminal forms of communication as well.

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My favourite poets include R L Stevenson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Donne, James Elroy Flecker and Robert Frost. I love them because they are all able to touch my heart and their works leave me with something deep or beautiful to ponder on. I'll tell you more, poet by poet.

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Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

I was first deeply impacted by Stevenson's unforgettable classic "Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde." Ever since, I've come to look upon him as a deep thinker and philosopher, one who probes the frontiers of human knowledge to find things yet unknown. He has a keen, inquiring, scientifically inclined mind. He likes change. He's brave, imaginative and likes to be precise . Never mind that a lot of his poetry is for children. I love his brilliance and precision. 

Here's his unforgettable "From A Railway Carriage" (1885).

Faster than fairies, faster than witches,

Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;

And charging along like troops in a battle,

All through the meadows the horses and cattle:

All of the sights of the hill and the plain

Fly as thick as driving rain;

And ever again, in the wink of an eye,

Painted stations whistle by.

Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,

All by himself and gathering brambles;

Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;

And there is the green for stringing the daisies!

Here is a cart run away in the road

Lumping along with man and load;

And here is a mill and there is a river:

Each a glimpse and gone for ever!

From A Child’s Garden of Verses

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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

Longfellow is an old, wise prophet to me. His poems speak eternal truths in story form.

Here's a beloved Longfellow quote for me: 

“Though the mills of God grind slowly,
yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience He stands waiting,
with exactness grinds He all.”

God is patient. God is kind. In fact, He's so patient that some take him for granted. But His patience will not last forever. Despite there being ample evidence of the existence of a loving Creator, there are many who stubbornly resist Him. They will not listen to reason. They will not listen if approached with kindness. Neither will they listen if harshly reproved. All their lives, neither kindness nor harshness has any effect — they simply refuse to respond. The situation is quite like what the Bible describes in Matthew 11:17 "We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn." Thus they weary Him out. 

When people have wearied Him out with a lifetime of rejection, His patience runs out. Now, it's His turn to reject those who ignored Him and He wants to settle accounts before turning them out ... 

Those who are being turned out don't want to go, but it's too late to repent. God's account books go into very fine details. They prove you guilty beyond a shadow of doubt! 

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James Elroy Flecker (1884-1915)

There's a little background behind my choice of this poet as a favorite. I first came across James E. Flecker's poetry from the biography of a world-renowned Indian industrialist, J.R.D Tata. In case you haven't heard of him, Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata (JRD or "Jeh") was a French-origin Indian of eminence. He was a highly successful chairman of India's biggest business conglomorate, Tata Sons Ltd (a.k.a. the "Tata Group" or simply, "Tatas") during the nearly 50 year period 1938 - 1991. Tata is a household name in India, held close to the heart by the majority of the population as they are the most upgright, people-loving manufacturers of the broadest array of products/services (ranging from common salt to high-tech) consumed by Indians.

I became a "fan" of this noble and saintly businessman some years after working in The Tata Engineering & Locomotive Company (TELCO, now Tata Motors Ltd), Pune (1981-1984). Tata Motors is the automobile manufacturing wing of the Tata Group and it was while working in this company that I first became acquainted with JRD Tata, the man, his vision, and values.

Flecker's poem, "The Golden Journey to Samarkand," was JRD's favorite poem and, in fact, one of the lines of this famous poem forms the title of his autobiography "Beyond The Last Blue Mountain: the Authorised Biography of J.R.D. Tata" by R M Lala (ISBN-10: 0670844306; ISBN-13: 978-0670844302).

THE GOLDEN JOURNEY TO SAMARKAND

We are the Pilgrims, master; we shall go
Always a little further: it may be
Beyond that last blue mountain barred with snow,
Across that angry or that glimmering sea,

White on a throne or guarded in a cave
There lives a prophet who can understand
Why men were born: but surely we are brave,
Who take the Golden Road to Samarkand.

Sweet to ride forth at evening from the wells
When shadows pass gigantic on the sand,
And softly through the silence beat the bells
Along the Golden Road to Samarkand.

We travel not for trafficking alone;
By hotter winds our fiery hearts are fanned:
For lust of knowing what should not be known
We make the Golden Journey to Samarkand.

- James Elroy Flecker

As you will notice, Flecker's poem is about those who are adventurous, pioneering, bold, determined, and persevering. Those who are imaginative, and dream big. Those who love taking challenges and calculated risks to find exotic rewards and prizes while being fully aware of the dangers and threats that lurk all around. 

This character sketch describes JRD very well. Here's why:

1. He was India's first ever commercial pilot, earning his flying licence in 1929. In 1932, he started India's first airmail service when he flew mail in a De Havilland Puss Moth from Karachi's Drigh Road Aerodrome (Pakistan) to the Juhu Airstrip in Mumbai. The same year, he created history when he launched India's first commercial airline "Tata Airlines" (present day "Air India") making air travel available to private passengers. Thus, he pioneered Civil Aviation in India and is rightly known as the Father of Civil Aviation in India.

2. India turned independent (from British rule) in 1947. The fledgling nation had no capable leader with the kind of vision, experience, education, intergrity, commitment, and following who could envision a modern, self-reliant India of the future and make a roadmap to get the nation there. It was largely JRD and Tata Sons, working in close association with the Gov of India that took up this great responsibility. JRD's willingness to explore uncharted terrains, going a "little further ..." in pursuit of quality & perfection in business, crossing "angry ... glimmering seas" of adversity (and continuing his pursuit even when he had to go it alone) is what got India to where she now is.

Can you now see that it was JRD's "Golden Journey to Samarkand," that turned the US$ 100 million Tata Group in 1938 (when he took over as Chairman), with just 15 group companies, to the highly successful, 100 company, US$ 5 billion global business in 1991, when he stepped down? 

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