A Tale Of Two Daughters (For Dimitrios Galanis) Poem by Souren Mondal
A Tale Of Two Daughters (For Dimitrios Galanis)
Uneasy lies upon the daughters of
the ones wearing the crown.
So many centuries
between the two of us
and yet our tales are same
Drunk in pride and blindness
our fathers did not see the storm, the madness
and the plague coming upon themselves.
Imprisioned in a wall made of the their mistakes
we had both been hanged to death.
Was it my fault, father and brother with
plucked out eyes
that I was born to you?
Was it my fault, proud father,
running like a madman in the storm
that you preferred eloquence over emotions?
Alas,
both of you were blind
Blind not for your Fate
but blind by choice
Your pride,
Your errors in judgement
became our Nemesis
as we both died on the bloody cross of your sins,
pregnant with the child of our lovers
we died
without having our heads rested upon their lap.
*
One of us followed our father into exile
the other was exiled by her father
What irony is this?
We are now dead - long gone - turned into ashes
and drowned in the whirlwind of forgotten histories
But imagine....
Couldn't this have been different?
Couldn't we have defeated the sisters of Fate?
Saved the thread from being snapped
and lived peacefully
...
Tiresias said 'no'
He said
'You are doomed to agony and death like many daughters are,
You were cursed in birth and have cursed back at death'
The curse of the blind fathers
And the curse of their dead daughters returned
CALL NO ONE HAPPY TILL THEY BE BLIND
[This tale is of the two daughters,
old this maybe,
but true...
And the more the daughters will be cursed
The more they will curse back
The plague that you spread
will kill you in return
Rotten
and destroyed
you will, too, one day
be sent behind the same walls that you built around us]
Souren Mondal
March 11-12,2016
So, Dimitrios, consider this as a tribute to you from one of your disciples and friend. I had learnt so much from you. It's always like having a glass of wine and reading Descartes - there's truth in our conversations, but we are both going to doubt it, and thus exist.
IN VINO VERITAS MAIS JE PENSE, DONC, JE SUIS - MON AMI CE POUR VOUS! !
Souren
You identified this poem as DAUGHTER, MYTH, TRAGEDY and it embodies those archetypes so powerfully. That's what I take with me after reading - POWER on several levels. The power of Tragedy which is re-enactment, and not forgetting, and staring straight into the abyss. That's where MYTH comes in. In your version of things MYTH doesn't mean an old falsehood corrected by modern knowledge. NO! Myth refers to those impulses of the soul which are deeply embedded in our psyches. These are the most ancient TRUTHS we carry inside as our human birthright, including identity, desire, obsession, freedom, etc. And there is a third implied but not stated by you: FATE. Your poem is a striking evocation of allof these ancient aspects of our deepest self. I'm going to perform a reenactment myself by re-reading your poem right now!
And the more the daughters will be cursed The more they will curse back The plague that you spread will kill you in return History will repeat itself! ........... What we sow, we reap! Souren, your poem has deep connotations! I am at a loss to extricate its full meaning! But as Tiresias, the blind prophet asserts, we cannot reverse fate! This poem I had read once, but being in a haste, I couldn't apply my mind...... You cause your ordinary readers to rake their brain! I too greatly admire the poems of Dimitrios and feel that this tribute, he rightly deserves!
That's a very fine poem written to honor your friendship with an amazing poet. It's very well-crafted. I really find your narrative poetry very gripping. From the structure to the diction, it's very classy. You have a knack for telling a tale in the most intriguing way. Great work once again.
My dear Souren, you bring me in a very difficult situation.To the surprise, let me utter a few words [more later maybe].My whole life I had taken my measures not to be in a situation like this.My desciples were not allowed to express their sympathy and love to their teacher.//I knew they were young and could exagerate.//I confess that I'm happy to see them, even after decades, to keep the same feelings and esteem, but they express them like adults now and do not bring me in difficulty.//I do remind and warn your readers that you are a young man too and may feel obliged to me for the little time I devoted to give you some advise I thought may help you.//Old people find it a pleasure to give advises, so their advises are not so innocent.They have something egotistic in their own content. Rewards make them all the more suspect and may enter a vicious circle, to be given in the hope to get the award.And that is a difficult situation, you must admit, dear Souren.
I had the pleasure to encounter and converse with Mr. Galanis, both in English and Greek - a rare refinement! A great tribute, Souren!
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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5/7/2024 9:14:19 AM # 1.0.0.1119
This is both a great tribute to our dear mutual friend, Dimitrios, and a fabulous (No pun intended) poem. The wording is extraordinary, Souren!