We Smile, Rise From Roots Poem by Aniruddha Pathak

I may take time to smile but keep it on,
Nor know what life means, nor how it bears fruit,
I know to smile from the red of young dawn.

Sun there be or shade, reason or none,
I greet all with childlike smile— ever cute,
Once I take to smile ever keep it on,

From grown ups do I learn grimace nor frown,
From devil nor from his wicked flute,
I start smiling right from early dawn.

Those to me close, together grown,
I dance with leaves, fruits and guarding brutes,
Born I'm with smile and keep it on.

Bless be the fertile soil and smiling sun,
Blessed be Nature I rise from the root,
I keep on learning dawn to dawn

Until one day I wither, done and gone,
Forgetting not the truth absolute:
Take no time to smile and keep it on,
Start smiling from your babyhood's dawn.
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The speaker in this poem is a flower. It talks of its philosophy of life and that of its close companions— leaves, thorns, and fruits apart from sprightly butterflies. It opens the monologue as the bud says, I take my time to smile, but keep it on as I blossom into flower. The guarding brutes are thorns. Everyone's common philosophy of life is: Rise from the root.
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Villanelles | 09.10.08 |