Monday, October 18, 2010

Remembering Kashmir 1973

There's a place tucked away in the mountains far north. It is to be seen to be appreciated. I was there for a week way back in 1973. The serenity of undisturbed nature was just overwhelming. It brought back fond memories to inspire this!

( dedicated to Ma'am who advised me to be brief and careful on choice of words)



Kashmir

Much maligned, holiday blues
What am I in for?
Set me free, morning dews
Droplets , shining , pierced by the Sun
Tell me more!

Rivulets of clear streams
Gushing down the mountain side
in the Kashmiri landscape
Say, am I dreaming?
No, say no more
A story that’s no ending

Fly Air Asia, onwards, Gulmarg and Pahalgam
Bring me back the flowers, the blue sky,
the snow,gushing streams crystal clear
of lovely maidens, and rosy cheeks
of house-boats and Dal Lake
Kashmir, I remember thee once of yesteryear

Undisturbed , decidedly picturesque, untouched ,
yearnings beyond,
markedly wishing
for Srinagar again beckons!

6 comments:

abdulhalimshah said...

Well done, Hank. keep it up.

kaykuala said...

Dear Hal,
Thanks buddy.

ninotaziz said...

Ahha! No longer bound by form. Excellent.

When I was a very very young writer, i tried all sorts of poetry forms without knowing poetry forms. Turned out, 30 years later, all forms had a name, and then there were some!

If you care to, you can research some forms like normal poems of abab structure, poems of aaaa structure, pantoum, vilannelle, sonnet, free form. Structures can be challenging and they give a poet discipline.

You have inspired me and I have challenged myself to do a blog dedicated to my french poetry. Mind you, my french is so so, comme ci comme ca as they say, this is quite a challenge for me!

My new baby:

www.lapoesieparninotaziz.blogspot.com

ninotaziz said...

By the way, this is a lovely poem. Most likely, because you wrote from the heart and wonderful memories inspired you instead of the pen.

kaykuala said...

Dear Ninotaziz Ma'am,
At the back of my mind, I knew it. It cannot be gila-gila. There has to be some sort of discipline of forms and structure. But I didn't have any idea what would these be. Now you are putting names, a host of names on different ways of writing. Awesome!
I thought they are all lumped under blank verse. ( I did a bit of reading after visiting your blog ) I thought I would avoid blank verse as it seem to lack directions. Maintaining a rhyme at least ensures harder thinking. It is all very technical now. I heard of sonnets before but I haven't a clue on the others. Thanks Ma'am. Structure and forms will give me confidence, knowing the difference between them is half the battle won. I have to thank Pakcik for opening a vast, new horizon for me. I'm still struggling with words but never mind that. I'm enjoying it!

P/S I will visit your new baby. I may not understand a thing but just looking at French language is itself poetry. Merci!

kaykuala said...

Dear Ninotaziz Ma'am,
Yes, Kashmir is great. The population there may never realise it. It is undisturbed. It is paradise. It is exhilarating. You just can't help but hold it dear to your heart.