Tuka Verses Poem by Ganesh Veeraraghavan

Tuka’s verses…

When He wishes
The ink swells
Miles run the pen
Floods imagination
Beautiful colours
Pure canvas……

Wet banks of Chandra
Sits the lonely Tuka
Vittal Vittal he sings
His heart, flapping wings

Names Vittal Vittal
Take a birth musical
Heart of Tuka in song
Millions abhang…….

“Vittal shines blue
Hands on his lush hips
Nectar cherry lips
Bliss through and through”

“With Guru’s grace
I have the strength to face
Any turbulence
And steal a peaceful silence”

“Who He is not
By names He is bought
The Name, the Named and the caller
Three times over”

“Let the worlds collapse
Let repeat earthquakes
Let it rain unstopped
Up to the neck drowned
Let blazing fires spread
Let the noose get tightened
Let vacuum choke
All anchors broke
Let the wife abandon
Let the father disown
Let the sons abdicate
Let the worlds castigate
Sing His names till the last
All these will go bust
Gold will rise from dust
Iron free from rust
All weariness to rest
Life, a new zest
Make each day a festival
Keep the tongue wet with Vittal”

“Did He leave His heaven?
Make my heart His inn
Does He sit there and play
Keeping me in feverish joy”

“Truth He is
Source of mysteries
No mere stone
My life own
He is also the lie
When He stays shy
As stone dead
To stonyhearted”

“As you seek Him
He plays to your whim
When you deny
He turns shy
When you affirm
You get Him”

“He runs this river Chandra
Waters for Tuka
Tuka on the boat
Vittal his buoyant float”

“Tuka is the chariot
Wooden but decorated
Vittal reins in the horses
Five furious senses
At Tuka’s heart Vittal is seated
Chariot well directed”

Short verses these
Vittal flows as words
Tuka’s heart melts
Vittal as ink swells

“All scenes he is
Wherever one sees
The sky, vast spread
The waters oceaned
The trees daring
The deserts baring
The little calf rushing
The mother with milk gushing
The tiger furious
The cat boisterous
The mountains sturdy
The meadows grassy
The form as well substance
The beginnings and the ends”

“When Chandra flows
She curls like His locks
When she throws her ripples
She imitates His dimples
Does Tuka know nothing but Vittal
The centre Vittal, Tuka His circle”

“Look not at woman
You will surely bemoan
Touch not wealth
Hell’s invite in stealth
Care not for praise
Nor if the worlds abuse
Sing His names ever
The final bed of the life river”

Tuka sings verse after verse
Chandra as the witness
Vittal Vittal his only theme
Tunes along Chandra’s stream”

All the villagers
Tuka followers
His abhangs on their lips
His holy feet they want to kiss

Fate’s hunt
In the form of a pundit
Rameshwar the well versed
In scriptures accomplished
Lectures under the oak tree
Dissertations expansive
Practical lessons
All rituals

When should one sleep
When to take a dip
Which direction for the head
Where impurities to be shed
How many days impure
On the death of one’s sire
Which direction to face
When saying morning prayers
Where the god will turn
When it’s evening sun
How many steps to build
When to have the goat killed
Which austerity washes murder
Which eases the sin of plunder
What distance to keep from a widow
How to deepen her sorrow
Which heavens if we beget male progeny
Which hells for one mistake tiny
Endless expositions
Just ten listeners!

Rameshwar jealous
Tuka famous
Tuka unlettered
Knows nothing scriptured
Unchaste Marati
Not a touch of Sanskrit godly
Just Vittal Vittal
Nothing useful

“Tuka you illiterate
Why just vibrate
Why flap the wing
Not a bit flying
Stop this nonsense
Fie upon empty verses
Where is any wisdom
Just humdrum
Vittal Vittal just some sounds
Not the calibre of poets
Stop fooling innocent people
Stop acting humble
Throw your verses
Let them drown in Chandra waters”

Tuka sad
In sorrow drowned
Are his verses empty
Is Vittal not the most weighty
Are his verses waste
Are they penned for praise
Where is wisdom heavier
Than the tongue which calls ever
Does it lie in the head high
Or the heart to Vittal nigh
Has he misled innocent folks-men
Will they miss their rightful heaven
Why then his Vittal smiles
Standing on brick tiles
Why then his Vittal comes
In innumerable forms
Is this all illusion
Persistent delusion
Some mad man’s flight
From sane worlds isolate..

“Master my apologies
For my sacrileges
I will throw as you command
Under the waters buried”

Tuka in tears
His Vittal to the waters
Feels like a killer
Vittals can he murder
Mere verses or his children
Or wasted words, a burden
Did he not write his heart
Has his Vittal lied
Are they not true and real
Will his verses not bring weal
Will his verses not heal
Is Vittal not their capsule
In every verse his Vittal gemmed
Every verse Vittalled!

A despair deeper than the ocean
Tuka’s heart in erosion
Can fate be crueller
Anyone humbler

Chandra waters salty
Banks unsteady
No more cool and easy
Hot she runs fiery
She is not blessed to speak
Can she stand this sorrow peak
Better to rush and flow
Than to see Tuka’s woe
Better to dry up to the heavens
Than to drown Tuka’s stanzas

A hundred times Tuka feels the waters
Warm enough for his verses
Cold is it for his children
How can he let them drown
Curses his birth lowly
Curses his lack of study
Curses his spontaneous tongue
Curses its Vittal plunge
Curses his thirsty heart
Is Vittal the water for his throat

Like a dreaded suicide
Submits the pages to the tide
Just gazes empty
Head in a dizzy
His life in the waters
Only memory ashes!
Eyes drenched
Heart wrenched
Soul parched
Spine arched
Vittal plunged
Life airs expunged!

Lifeless he collapses
Banks wet and moist
Tuka they hold
Chandra cries loud

Days dozen pass
Tuka lifeless
Vittal his soul breathes
Vittal his only wreaths!

The thirteenth morning dawns
Temple gate opens
Worships to begin
Million voices callin
Vittal Vittal chants the airs
Preists with the flowers
Vittal shocks and stuns
His upraised hands
Clutches pages unsteadily
Drenched wet fully
Chandra over His body beautiful
His lotus eyes tearful
His lips mumbling
Verses pouring
Vedas fragrance
When He chants, what else
Tuka’s verses
Taken to unseen heights
At the pinnacle
Where even vedas tremble

Tuka on His tongue, every verse
A stealthy exchange
Tuka’s name for every Vittal’s
Vittal in cunning smiles
Chandra His accomplice?
Rameshwar too well versed in scriptures?

How Tuka lost
To this plagiarist
Clever heist
Tuka moist…..