Lone Palmyra Poem by Madathil Rajendran Nair
Lone Palmyra
Palmyra Tree
That is the name of a place
In the High Range Wayanad of Kerala
There is no palmyra there now
Time has leveled the lands
Into depraved modernity
Yet the name haunts
A broken Jain temple stands
Testifying to an ancient cultural past
There stood perhaps a lone palmyra there
Some time back, jutting into the skies
His disheveled hair waving to the tune of violent winds
As he guided drunkards safely home
In pitch-dark monsoon nights
A light-house to those who were lost
An upright guide who searched the heavens
And sang to the constellations above
Pouring nectar out of a lonely heart
The lone palmyra of yore
No one knows what sweet thoughts crowded his head
When he stood there staring at the heavenly dots
What dreams he dreamt
Who are the vampire-fairies that made him their abode
To lure, embrace and lead
Solitary debauchee wanderers of the night
To their slumberous deaths, drained of blood
Lone palmyra of yore
You are a dream
That enchants us on our lonely plains
Of a long-lost past of fairy tales,
Stars, winds, rains and weeping souls
Like a Lone Palmyra this poem stands out in the land of nostalgia. It can be anywhere.
2 – " what sweet thoughts crowded his head" Probably he was thinking " where can i get a female? after all, Adam had his Eve. it ain't fair! " " Pouring nectar out of a lonely heart" nice! i laughed at " drained of blood" . don't ask me why i did; i won't tell you! to MyPoemList. bri ;)
1 – are ALL palmyras male? ? i used to sort mail to Palmyra New York, zip code 14522, and a lot of other small towns whose zip codes i can often recall after 25 years since sorting by hand.
It's like " when moon appears, The sunlight disappears" " When water is applied, the fire disappears"
Some places are named after the trees that once stood there! We have a place called Mavin chuvadu! Once a big Mavu (Mango tree) stood there. Though the tree has disappeared, the place is still called Mavin Chuvadu, arousing a lot of nostalgic memories! The reference to the vampire fairies who are supposed to inhabit the palm trees adds a weird charm to the poem! Lovely penning!
Another great poem by you Nair-ji. It brings intimations of another world - a world we've left behind as we passed from our youth to adulthood. Please keep going and also consider publishing the collection of your poems as a book.
Chittaran-ji, am overwhelmed and bowled over to see you here graciously appreciating my poem. It is a great pleasure that a philosopher of your status gets down to the mundane world of a silly poet to record encouraging words of appreciation. I will sure try to compile and publish my poetry in the coming days. But I am not sure how that would be welcomed considering the lukewarm reactions I am getting from my fellow poets here. Thanks a lot, Ji, for having come here to encourage me.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/24/2024 3:19:17 AM # 1.0.0.1119
Indeed, the palm tree must have held special significance for those who lived near those abandoned Jain ruins. Perhaps those local inhabitants, being caught up in a fever of early modernity, felt only an inchoate nostalgia for a time of many palm trees (as if in a drunken haze) .. You come on the scene with your broad sympathies to complete the arc of nostalgia. Having visited Udayagiri near Bhubaneswar, I am aware of the magic of Jain sites.10!
Thanks a lot friend Denis Mair for chiming with me in my nostalgia. Best regards.