Search Poem by Amrit Rathi
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“Why don’t you commit suicide? ”
asked doctor Frankl to his patients,
those who suffered from multiple torments,
great and small, desperately,
with a glimmer of hope so faint.
One said, “I love my kids,
I want to live for them.”
Another said, “I have talents,
I wish I could muster some fame.'
A third said, ” What wonderful memories
of the past I have! Them I cherish and claim.”
Even in their broken threads of life,
they found meaning in life-staggeringly rife.
Thus life has meaning for every one of us
and is calling us to search for it,
look passionately for it,
and face its challenge.
To live is to take responsibility.
To live is to embrace passion.
To live is to claim freedom.
Like a baby that falls before he learns to stand,
sufferings and freedom go hand in hand.
As all of us see:
he falls but gets up and then finally stands!
Thus, freedom is never ever free.
And we love this suffering
if we see in it a purpose, a dream.
For growing and success,
such troubles like troubles hardly seem.
They say, he who has a why to live
can bear with almost any how.
Let us claim our life’s meaning now.
But we have lost that animal instinct,
in our pursuit of the fake culture,
that we now follow.
Our traditions have crumbled,
else what to search we could know.
Now we do what others do,
or they wish us to do.
We haven’t sought anything
of our own, new.
So Sunday may be boredom,
depression—vacuum!
Of life and time, this is the sum.
Yet then some hidden conflicts,
lying under the heaps of the unconscious,
make us about–turn, that’s the fuss.
So where to search for meaning as such?
You will find it in your work,
standing beneath the oak tree, like shadow;
or what you see in the work of a farmer-
toiling in sweat with his plough;
or in turn of a spinning wheel,
what we call, you‘re in ‘flow.’
Or you will find it in your experience:
How beautifully the nature walks,
with the sunshine, moonlight, smiling flowers,
and how sweetly the one whom you love talks!
How your heart throbs
in the company of your beloved!
Joys and tears you take in stride,
you are fortunate that you have loved.
Or you can find it in your resolute spirit,
in the face of inevitable misery and suffering.
If you must suffer,
you suffer bravely; you don’t think,
and transform a personal tragedy into a triumph,
finding meaning in human potential's swing.
Day by day, hour by hour, we must search.
Life has meaning, up to the very last moment.
Let us inflame our desire and urge.
Nobody can take away our freedom to think—
not in prison or the most trying situation—
or our attitude to respond to it
with a judicious action.
So this is the tryst with our destinies,
not waiting for the last moment to arrive,
and to make it sharper, like on life’s canvass
what we did, alas what we should have done!
Let’s search and figure out
Life’s meaning- the real thing!
Doctor Frankl is surely looking down from the clouds,
at humanity’s search for life’s meaning.
How true. Each of us have our own purpose and meaning. I feel sad if I look back to my teens and early twenties. Among my frieds and schoolmates, I think 70-80 % had real high ideals and lofty purposes. Under the mom and claim of being realistic, so many people like to discourage youths, just because they themselves failed to live up to their own ideals. Far too many of the 70-80% became blind money makers, negative and pessimistic. I think we really need more respected mature men like you Amrit, who are not afraid to stmulate meaning and lofty purposes in our youths. And the wonderful thing is that you manage to this in a real poetic way. Thanks a lot.
You write on life's issues etc, so brilliantly! A very though provoking poem indeed; D
We all have to search our meaning for existence in this world.. thought provoking...beautiful poem..you can take up any topic and just write down the best...clap clap clap
To suffer in life will surely lead you to be stronger in life, to be happy and when you reached that point you'll never stop searching yourself, your purpose here on earth. Every line has deep meaning, deep thoughts, hard work are involved in this piece of work Again a loud applause for you..
You ended your Search, for us to begin......The poem is very very relevant and striking and the search is something like a road to go ahead. how to find what is that search of yours or rather how to define the search of yours is the presentiment before us. Those lines are exceptionally nice......Freedom and suffering go hand in hand, and the example of an infant being trying to stand or fly as the case may be.... Searching for the missing something............landed me into this world of poets...........in fact. thks for the nice contribution...........
Suicide is a topic of concern I also considered in 'State Of 20th Century Man'. The horror of mans' inhumanity to man I also addressed in poems listed in 'The Holocaust Files'. Sadly few address the reality of such crimes dooming history and hapless oppressed peoples to suffer the repetition of such crimes. Power to your pen Amrit when writing on these issues, more of us need to add our voices in reasons to pray for and promote peace not illegal wars. Amen.
This is a profound poem of a search for self. I can sum your poem up in a few words. The west has done a great job in defining or decideded how other countries-and its own -should live their lives and criticize or go to war against them if they don't comply. They have- with power and money -bought and sold their own and others as chatels slaves-some of our own and some others have gladly obliged! It's difficult to search or find one's own purpose in life when it's no where to be found...it superimposes nature. Only when we know the causes can the effects be remidied or resolved. Thanks for sharing this poem of truth.
This poem will, no doubt, build self-confidence in the minds of Readers, as every line speaks itself for the life that should live on this earth boldly till last breath, despite facing ups and downs
But we have lost that animal instinct, in our pursuit of the fake culture, that we follow. Our traditions have crumbled, else what to search we could know. Now we do what others do, or they wish us to do. We haven’t sought any thing of our own, the new. So Sunday may be boredom, depression, vacuum! Of life and time, this is the sum. What a brilliant write on the current situation of mankind in general! It is so very true that we are all so confused and fast losing our identities today in 'our pursuit of the fake culture'. Unless we can figure out the very reason for our existence, we will be plagued at the end of our lives with many 'If only I had...' sighs.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/18/2024 5:50:51 PM # 1.0.0.1119
Well-written your view of life towards the positiveness. Thank you, write more. Regards, 10 Apoet B