Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar Poems

Freedom is joy.
Do you get it in abundance?
It is clipped by codes,
Tamed by customs,
...

I left the place I had been to for years.
Leaving a place is not about bidding
Good bye but more about feeling uprooted
And searching for a new identity.
...

Woman takes it as her pride
To make men long for her.
She takes it as her insult
If men chose to reveal it.
...

It is man that earns
But woman earmarks.
It is man that spends
But woman determines.
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Why do you cry
That you are going to die?
What you cherish will lie
Waste when you at last die.
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I am free with my parent
But I fear making mistakes.
I am free with my boss
But I fear making mistakes.
...

In one’s tragedy you may take pity
But in each pity there lies a grain of joy
That you had been spared of such mishap.
No soul will weep over your misfortune.
...

Wisdom is felt, not learnt.
Wisdom begins at the end;
Wisdom is not wise in time;
Why must you value the wisdom?
...

Rose and jasmine are least interested
In seeding. They are much interested
In flaunting their beauty and fragrance
And lure the kings and remain issueless.
...