Alankar(Decor)-219

Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst(Gnome) Gnomic poetry consists of meaningful sayings put into verse to aid the memory. They were known by the Greeks as gnomes, from the Greek word for 'an opinion'. A gnome was defined by the Elizabethan critic Henry Peacham (1576? -1643?) as 'a saying pertaining to the manners and common practices of men, which declareth, with an apt brevity, what in this our life ought to be done, or not done'. It belongs to the broad family of wisdom literature, which expresses general truths about the world. Topics range over the divine and secular, to hierarchical social relationships. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst An old man was scared of his karmic life and hell On the verge of death he feared the beatings of hell To avoid hell his way of atonement he found Began wishing all good luck every now and then To even some one imagined when there was none Soon that old man became so dear to every one He was the good-wishing uncle to all around He went on like this till his end to avoid hell On his death people prayed for him for heaven well But who knows well where he was sent, heaven or hell?