O ... The Girl With The ' Veenaı '! Poem by sundaram chandrakalaadhar

O my darling!
Take in your hands this beautiful Veenai.
Upon the delicate strings of the divine Veenai
Ride soft your tender fingers!
O.. what a melodious strain it is!
My lids of themselves do slowly close..
My flesh and bones all slowly soften
In the divine waves your Veenai outspreads..
My mind in the sweet melody of music-
No, .no..in the cruel pain of that Supreme Joy-
Suffers much and wriggles like a snake..
Lo..! how short of words I am my feelings to express!
Alas! I know not of their kind too..
And your Veenai's voice chokes my heart...
My chest is full of pain..
My soul melts in music..
O my beloved!
What song do you play? .
Tell me dear..
To what tune have you set it?
Nothing strikes my brain..
So shallow is my knowledge of this art..
The limitless drinking of this wine of music
Intoxicates me.
I am sober and very weak..
My mind in sheer madness dances today..
Dancing it chases the delightful strain
While the music skilfully manoeuvres
All the curves and bends on its way!
The ups and downs it ascends and skids.
But so helpless is my mind
To follow close your music's heels-
It tumbles down often in its path.
Dispirited not, it picks up soon
And trudges along with the panting chest..
My darling!
Tie me fast to the hem of music from your Veenai..
Let your melody drag me along
To every world it gleefully visits
To every ridge as it ascends
Into all mystic depths it slips and rolls over
Over every wave it gladly rides
Through the skies as it gracefully glides
In every brook as it swims in glee
And as it leaps in mirth with the silvery falls..
Like the silken flag atop the tall mast
That dances gracefully in perfect rhythm
To the delightful music of the sportive winds
Let my soul dance in the madness of joy!
As a kite that plays with the rushing winds
Let my mind swim in your music divine
Till it swoons and floats high up
Never to visit the woeful world again!
O.. my dear! Stop not your Veenai's music..
My heart to pieces would go The moment you stop
Let those fingers, very tender and soft -
Dance ever upon these delicate strings.
Let it be endless!
Be it sleepless! Be it restless!
Be it deathless! Be it spotless!
Pluck them hard..
Twang them soft.Twang them lazily..
Upon them run hard and fast!
Crawl soft and slow!
Between the extremes of the strings
Perform your jugglery.
Play your acrobatics!
Thousand wonders in a trice you perform.
Toss my mind hither and thither
Over and beneath those singing strings!
Let your tune quicken its pace..
Let it whirl me in its swirls..
My mind should cry unashamedly in that pain.
Let your music roar like a forest tempest.
Let it rend like the streaks of lightning
And roll like the speech and the claps of the thunder..
If not, O life of my lives..!
Let your song flow smooth and slow
Or toddle like the vernal breeze
Or let it flow with silent ripples
And crawl and slide on its path.
O...that music divine
That makes me jubilant one moment..
Depressed in the next,
Happiest one instant.. sorrowful next
Lifting me aloft to dash me down
Embracing me close to kick me hard!
O.. stop not..!
Part not your fingers from strings.
Slash not my wings that delight in the heavens!
O.. my dear, rest not your fingers.
Those fingers that makes the Veenai
So sweetly to speak...so sweetly to speak!
Let my soul soften, melt and dissolve
In the wine of of bliss
To its ultimate union with the UNNAMED..
Till then rest not thy finger, my darling!

-
S.CHANDRA KALAADHAR