Deception Falls Poem by Madathil Rajendran Nair
Deception Falls
On Stevens pass
We had a stop
At Deception Falls
In the thick green alpine growth
Home for ubiquitous, instant moss
A brook violent, impulsive, young
Cascades here and roars her way down
Against mighty boulders of stones
She can put several tons
Of weight to crush any animal resistance
Out of mortal existence
And then slowly ages down her path
To be serene, calm and quiet
Where she meets
The river Tye
Like the Tao of the East
Her last refuge
When fingers
Can play a note on her
Soft as if on a guitar
Strange things aging does to restless ones
I looked at a sagely Douglas fir
A presiding giant on her banks for an answer
Who has perhaps walked down the path of fire
A couple of centuries before
When a forest conflagration or volcanic eruption
Changed the ecological face of the place
Beyond recognition
He beckoned me
To sit at his feet
Under his saintly gaze
And meditate
Covered all over by moss
Like a green man
Unearthly from Mars
Envied by other smaller trees
That pined for the light of the sun
Bent their way away from his spreading arms
Like the sage of ancient Indian lore
Valmiki*, on whom ants built their hill
As he sat through ages pondering
Answers to profound existential worries
Oh, my limbs are already growing moss
May it grow deep into my bones
On this hillside of great symbiosis
May I hibernate here and meditate
A moss-man chrysalis listening to the gushing brook
My way unto the stars
And beyond them into the unknown
Land of fluttering butterflies
___________________
*Valmiki is the Indian sage who authored the epic Ramayana. He was a hunter-robber in early life.
Rushing brook performing magical transformation of the surroundings for ages. Enjoyed the beauty of nature in your beautiful poem.
Imagine my eyes growing large! ! ! You have been in my home state of Washington- -I have often traveled over Stevens Pass, have rode part of the Cascade Trail. You also mention the damage done by the explosion of Mount St. Helen so many years ago. I am glad you met our magnificent Douglas fir and seen some of our mountain streams and perhaps a waterfall or two. I fell in love with your closing stanza and have included this poem and Over the Bamboo Fence in my list of favorite poems. So so deserving of more than a 10!
An extremely well written piece, Madathil. The descriptions of both the physical majesty and their evocative properties on the mind were outstanding. If any poem deserves a ten, it's this one.
Strange things aging it does to restless ones. Very wonderful imagery is drawn in this poem on ecology. Really interesting poem this is really.10
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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5/2/2024 6:44:44 AM # 1.0.0.1119
Sir, I loved this poem. Feel so close to nature and her treasures. A feel of oneness with nature. May be, this feeling of oneness with nature is the true meaning of the Valmiki's story. The anthill is just imaginary, or was only within his mind! How do we know? I tend to believe, after reading Mahabharata and Ramayanam many times over, that all Godly allusions in them could have a meaning like this. Some simple meanings, which are set there to guide us through life.