As usual, with my legs in the water,
I sat chatting with the silvery river,
that mirrored the moving blue sky
like a fleeting dream
in its rolling currents and the gleaming stream.
“I’ll tell you about an incident of today.
It’s about a Stag, the deer
with the beautiful spiraling horns, ”
said the river.
“It was the morning, a beautiful deer
came to me and started drinking water.
As into a mirror, he looked into the water,
and he wondered: ‘what a beauty are my horns!
Is more beautiful anybody ever born? ’
He couldn’t believe.
But just then his glance fell to his legs,
his heart burst with pain, too hard to relieve.
With tears in his eyes,
‘O God! With so beautiful horns, ’
he cried,
‘this is quite unfair;
you gave me such ugly legs;
are you aware? ’
Just then nearby he saw some hounds
barking and running towards him he found.
He ran for his life with lightning speed;
on his legs, he seemed to fly in the air;
the hounds were left quite behind there.
I saw him getting into the forest at last,
with the hounds still chasing after him very fast.
What a wonderful was his speed!
I thought he’d be safe, indeed.
After an hour or so I saw in the sky,
a luminous object was speedily flying by.
It surprisingly called me and said,
‘I am the stag, you remember?
sometime back, chased by the hounds.
My legs were marvelous,
and I left them far behind,
but alas!
my horns got stuck into the bushes.
I tried and tried but failed to unwind
and I was killed:
finally the hounds could find.
Of the horns I was so proud, so conceited,
and they became the very cause of my death;
the ugly legs that I despised, I hated,
up to the end, they saved my life.
O how foolish!
It’s loving the peripheral, and ignoring
what is a really valuable thing!
What an anti-climax!
What a wrong thinking!
In intense pain, in a flash, I realized
the real beauty is the beauty of our heart.
All other things are nothing but undoubtedly scant,
and I am an absolute God’s part.
I saw God and me instantaneously as one;
at that moment, he appeared before me,
and he called me to heaven.
So I am going to the heaven,
Good-bye dear friend! ’
with a luminous trail of light behind,
he then spiraled up in ascent.
'Very interesting”
I said, and thanked the river,
and made for my house,
a lot many thoughts wobbling like fever.
Copyright © reserved by the author
You are simply great............the way you open the eyes of blind ones like me with simple truths and simple illustrations........in the form of stories everybody would like to read.......the philosophy of life, the invaluable truths just put into simple easily digestible verses.........so beautiful are those arresting words............the combination of ugliness and beauty apparent and ofcourse ugliness too apparent only........and how the opposite effect on inherent spirit and the ironic tragedy............and of course the basic moral lesson and the eternal beauty of sitting at the sea shore.............everything is immensely perfect and its a great feeling reading your pieces.................
So wonderful! Such a beautiful story- and I repeat - I love the way you write poems that always tell a story with a valuable lesson to be learned. This particular poem kept me interested- because there was an element of suspense. I also loved the poem because it painted so beautifully the picture of a stag- in my opinion, the most beautiful animal in all of the wild- thanks for sharing and by the way you may want to read my latest poem, 'Itmon'- Claudia Krizay- keep up the good work in your writing, Amrit!
Great story, great rhymes, great message. Excellent poem, my friend.
thank you for this story and great moral lesson. what God gave you is the best that you think of. do not complain about what you do not have. accept what you have and be content with your own self. God has a definite plan in creating you as you are at present. if you accept yourself as you are, then you will enjoy peace and harmony in you. you will be able to smile always. you made us think Rati Thank you very much. god bless you always.
Interesting concept in this poem. Brings back many memories. Thanks for the comment on 'Time Heals'. Adeline
Very much educational poem. You showed correctly one of many paradoxes in life - something of beauty may the cause of our 'death' while so called an 'ugly part' may save us. Also, you mentioned a very essence of humans, their heart, but it was not developped as it could have been. Anyway, good story and point to think about.
an exceptionally detailed and entertaining fable with a good moral and wonderful description
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
it was pretty and i liked how you had everything worded