To Start Again Poem by Chandrasekhar Poduri

Greater men, than me, have done this before,
Oh! And have they done it with great style,
I’m just trying to do it once more,
Although for me, it’s been quite a while

This time around, I’ve nothing to say in particular,
But I’m sure that I don’t want to be too circular,
To be square, of course, it might take me a little bit longer,
I suppose in the end, it’ll make me that much stronger,
I’ve decided that I’m not going to plagiarize,
‘Cause I’m sure that I can, and that I will, improvise,
It’ll be difficult for me, I know, but I’ll try,
They’ve succeeded and therefore so will I,

I think of my illustrious poetic predecessors,
None of whom, let me mention, are my own ancestors,
They belong to another land; a different age-
I humbly salute them and pay respectful homage,
It may have been that they started humble,
Perhaps I too will fall and stumble;
They rose to sublime levels of poetic expression,
Even I may ascend the heights of poetic practice and profession,

Whether it will be the depths or the heights, or sheer obscurity,
Methinks only time can tell and maybe posterity,
But who am I to crib and complain,
For I’ve always hummed the refrain,
From that lovely song, a litany,
Que sera sera, whatever will be will be,
Que sera sera!