Many Gifts Poem by Raj Arumugam

There are many gifts
bestowed on a man
many blessings
he is endowed with
let him use these
rather than be weighed down
in the obsession with one misfortune
For always it is a man's nature
that will see him through the longest nights


Let him look to the beauty
all around him
(though she may seem shrivelled
in the face of troubles)
and this will teach
him to ride his roughest trials




(from The Migrant - notes of a newcomer (February 1997- July 1998))