Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar Poems

I don’t say all fools are wise.
I say all wise men are fools.
I don’t say all fools are lovers.
I say all lovers are fools.
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You aren’t weighed against your success;
You are weighed against your failures.
How you face, how you deal with crises
And how you muster energy-
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A fair woman carries her beauty
From the onslaught of men, merrily
As Christ carried his cross, the holy,
But she does it with a peacock’s arrogance.
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Time was not far
To leave whom you’d wooed,
To abandon whom you’d craved
And to skip whom you’d admired
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A deity was in procession.
Some carried it on their shoulders.
With the priest near the idol,
Displaying it to the crowd.
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The arrogance of the majority
Kills the freedom of the minority.
The authority of the majority
Checks the progress of the minority.
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