The Book of Cosmos -a poem by YANNIS YFANTIS

A difficult but frequently asked question that a writer faces is - ''why do you write?"

At times, the writer gets provoked and dismisses the question. But that question is answered in a

beautiful way by the Greek Poet Yannis Yfantis.

THE BOOK OF COSMOS

Only one book has been written

and it has been written by things and not by words

Only one book has been written

and it has been written by Cosmos through Cosmos for Cosmos.

Cosmos is the book of Cosmos.

Cosmos has no beginning and no end

but when the poet reveals Cosmos

It looks like creating Cosmos from the beginning.

There is only one book to be read

and this is the book of Cosmos.

To write means to read the book of Cosmos.

All my writings are nothing but underlines in the book of Cosmos.

All my writings are nothing but designs, notes, on the margin of its pages.

To write means to point out to the people

to try to share with them

the beauty or the horror I read in the book of Cosmos.

For no one can bear to read the book of Cosmos alone.

Yannis Yfantis:-

Greek Poet and author of Temple of Cosmos (1996)

Courtesy This too was published in the Journal of Literature & Aesthetics, July – December2001, Vol.1 and No.1 under the chief editorship of Dr. S. Sreenivasan, the veteran English Professor in Kollam. I got the old copy of the Journal from Hari Books Karunagappally.

GANAESHA a poem by R.PARTHASARATHY

Simply for the childlike inquisitiveness which is wonderfully depicted in it, I post the poem.

During the festival season in Kerala, the newspapers are flooded with the cruelties and offences committed towards the temple elephants and the ordeals that they undergo in the scorching heat of summer sun in the name of festivals and enjoyments. Our poet Sugathakumari has fervently appealed several times to stop this outrageous atrocities committed against the poor animals but in vain. Now see, even the Lord of Animals (Pasupati- Lord Shiva) has also done the same thing.Yes... no one is bothered to find what happened to the elephant.

Now read " GANAESHA a poem by R.PARTHASARATHY"

.

The god Shiva did not take kindly to it.

Who was this whelp trying to stop him,

from entering his wife Uma’s bath?

Ganesha’s rashness cost him his head.

A distraught Uma vowed to get even.

Where was her husband, she cried,

when she made the boy

from the scurf of her own sweet body?

The Lord of Animals then planted

hastily an elephant’s head on his son,

who rode off snorting

into the sunset on, of all things, a mouse.

And no one ever bothered to find out

what happened to the elephant.

Whose head, you wonder, will roll next?

R. Parthasarathy:-

An Indian poet, editor and translator, and lives in New York.

Works:- 1. Rough Passages

2. The Tale of an Anklet: an Epic of South India (translation)

Courtesy: It was published in the Journal of Literature & Aesthetics, July – December2001, Vol.1 and No.1 under the chief editorship of Dr. S, Sreenivasan, the veteran English Professor in Kollam. I got the old copy of the Journal from Hari Books Karunagappally