At the outset, let me make a confession: I thoroughly enjoyed reading Madam Devi Nagrani’s book of poems – ‘RINGING RADIANCE’. But, I have been finding it extremely difficult to comment on madam’s poems. I tried several times, but in vain. And, I am honest when I make this confession!
The world of a poet is a very private world…The depth of those feelings are very, very personal. So, any attempt to analyze and interpret a poet’s verses – leave alone doing it critically – is, in my view, not fair for the poet. Just as we behold a beautiful sunset, in sheer awe, we behold a poet’s lines, awestruck!
I think, there should end the ‘analysis and interpretation’ of every poem. Hello, they are not some hardcore financial statements…They are very, very tender and fragile whispers of a poet’s heart! So, I prefer to leave the poet alone, and simply behold her poems!
This one refuses to go from my mind:
The Key
If you think you shall stem me
With the shackles of your sweet selfish love
You are mistaken
Don’t ever feel the comfort
That you have trapped me in the clutches,
Snatched away my freedom,
It is your idiocy
I am not so foolish to pledge my freedom
For the majestic splendor of your prison
It is true
I have closed the doors of my freedom behind me
But
Still have the key that unlocks the door.
It is long since I have not used it,
Undoubtedly it has rusted a bit
But it is the same key,
And I am very much sure
‘The key that locks the lock
Also unlocks it.’
Left alone, poems are so beautiful, like those roses in a wild bush. Our attempts to touch them, pluck them and own them can be nightmarish! Let the beautiful roses be… Let the beautiful poems be… Let me be just the awestruck beholder of madam’s beautiful roses in the wild bush – ‘Ringing Radiance’!
Sunil Valecha
Lecturer and author. MUMBAI
march 2022