O Singer Of The Epic War

O Singer of epic war history, Of brazen battlefields long desolate, O Saint of life and liberties hoary, Bhagavad-Gita is thine ageless glory. Outlived hast thine song an endless story, Its dead heroes surviving still in state, Frustrated of ill fate but scarce sorry, O Singer of epic war history. Yudhishthir's dharma, Arjun's archery, Bheeshma's oath and Bheemsen's brute bravery, Confined can scarce be to the Pearly Gate, O thou hast sung Gita's ageless glory. And ye O bard, two roles in one carry: Poet laureate, progenitor on date, Born wert thou on mother's river ferry, O Singer of epic war history. Ye sang thine song in such a swell flurry, E'en god of wit1, though more than adequate, Lost was in deep thought oft feeling weary, O Bard of an ancient ageless glory. For mortal pens a task ‘tis so dreary, Oh even no more than to just translate2, O Singer of epic war history, O Singer of ancient ageless glory. ______________________________________________________ 1. Vyasa, the creator of Mahabharata approached Lord Ganesha, a great scribe who could write with great speed, to pen down the epic as sung by him. He agreed but warned the poet: With great speed I write. See that you do not make me wait. ‘Okay, but don't write anything down without understanding it, the poet put a counter condition. And so was created an epic of about hundred thousand verses, or four hundred thousand poetic lines. 2. I have done a poetic translation from the original Sanskrit (Volume I published)and I know how formidable a task it is. This is a Villanelle— a bit way out. The tersest, that normally becomes a quatrain only in the last stanza, becomes so in all. Also, the first and the third lines of the first stanza are repeated here with some modifications. ______________________________________________________ Villanelle | 02.10.11 |