A word for my child

I dedicate this to my children, Bobo and LuLu

A word for my child

Dear little one

There you sit all alone,

Your tiny fingers wrapped around,

The rattle you love most,

You roll around your wooden cradle,

Trying to reach far above.

You are amused,

To hear me speak.

You smile in glee,

At your own shadow.

My little magician,

I am enchanted by your feat.

You listen hard to the hum

Your innocent eyes searching around

Not knowing where I could be.

I hold you in my arms,

See your eyes twinkling

Silently assured, to have me near.

One day you’ll go out, my little one,

Face the world on your own,

Man is cruel in his action

For greed and desire burn in him;

For many men have fallen prey

To this malady.

Oh! How it aches my heart.

But you, my little one

Should shield your innocence, from this lust

And learn to walk the path of the blessed one,

For it is He who leads men,

When they transcend to another world.

So when death lay his hands on me,

Your thoughts may wonder;

Why can’t you stay?

My dear child,

I am just a soul, no one

 Has ever cheated Him.

Be brave my child,

Let your heart listen to the wise,

Let the wise light the dark,

Let action speak your words,

Let words be your Armour,

Then no more shall you seek me,

For you are ready,

My little one.

Lots of Love 

Ama

Leo Tolstoy: The Three Questions

The Three Questions – Leo Tolstoy

The following is a piece i wrote which is adapted from Leo Tolstoy's short story, The Three Questions. The character i have selected for my story is one who actually does not have much role in the original story. Enjoy!

Character: Minister (one of the council members in the King’s palace).

Our kingdom had prospered and lived in tranquility until one fine day the king called us immediately to the court. I thought it was one of the usual sessions we used to have. But as soon as I reached the court I could sense the heaviness in the air. The king had already come which was unlike him. As I tried to read his face, I knew that something was bothering him. The crease running over his forehead only showed itself when the king was distressed. I could hear hefty breathings in the silence of the room. Each one of us looked questioningly to one another. Finally the king began. He asked us three questions;

1.      How can I learn to do the right thing at the right time?

2.      Who are the people I most need, and to whom should I; therefore, pay more attention than to the rest?

3.       What affairs are the most important, and need my first attention?

For a moment my mind stopped working for a while there and I couldn’t just say whatever I thought because it is the king we are talking about. Questions such as these needed to be analysed and thought out carefully before putting it in words. The king announced a big reward for anyone who could answer it. The next day the members of the council lay down their answers to the three questions to the king. The king retorted in anger because he was not happy with it. That evening, I went home and talked about it to my wife. She said that I should ask the wise hermit in the woods but I had to make arrangements for receiving the royal guests at the palace.

 Days after, many wise men came from far and wide to try their luck but our king was displeased with all their answers. In the end he decided to consult the wise hermit, whom my wife had talked of. The king left with his body guards and returned after two days.  We waited patiently at the palace gate to receive the King. He brought along with him a wounded man. As they approached nearer, to our disbelief, the man was the brother of our enemy. The king explained what had happened in the woods. He also got the answers to his questions. Thus he said; 

“The most important time is now. The present is the only time over which we have power. The most important person is whoever you are with. The most important thing is to do good to the person you are with.”

If only I had listened to my wife’s advice. I would have pleased the king promised. Alas! I cannot turn time back but face the music from my wife.

Moral: Behind every successful man there is a woman.

The story of the witch.

The witch; "I was very upset with the injustice by the King and the Queen and so to teach them a lesson I stole their baby from the castle. I raised the child as my own and did not tell her anything about the world because I was afraid that she would leave me. She was the only one whom I could call mine. I loved her very much. I know that it was cruel of me to keep her captivated like a prisoner but the king had sent his spies all over the kingdom. It hurt me to reject her request to come down but I couldn't risk it. One day as I was returning after collecting berries, I saw a white horse tied by the side of the tower. I was afraid that it must be a soldier sent by the king. I climbed up the tower using the ladder I had hidden under the bush. What I saw inside made me furious. There a man was sitting, holding Rapunzel’s hand by the fireplace. He was not a soldier but by the looks of him, I could see that he was a royalty. This meant more danger to my life.  I jumped in and dragged the man through the room and threw him down the tower. I firmly told Rapunzel that she was not to meet the man anymore. I stopped going out for days. Finally when there was no more food in the tower I had to go look for some. When I got back, Rapunzel would not answer to my call. She wouldn't throw her hair down. I had to use the ladder again. Inside I saw the long hair lying lifeless on the floor. I came too late. The girl had run away. It shattered me".

A different kind of story.

STORY: RAPUNZEL from Rapulzel's view                       GENRE: FAIRY TALE

I was a just a baby when the evil witch separated me from my parents. She had made me live in a tower in the forest for a long, long time and never let me come down. She made me think that she was my mother and I believed her too. I wondered what the grass would feel like underneath my feet. I could see a heavenly castle, among the clouds at a faraway distant land, overlooking the tower’s only opening. I longed to be among the animals and birds in the forest where I was certainly not allowed.

At 18 my hair was as long as the height of the tower. The witch used it like a stair for her to go up or come down. One day, as I let my hair down at the call of whom I thought to be my mother’s, a handsome looking thing, which looked almost like me, climbed through the small window. I didn't know what to do. He said he was a prince and then told me about all things I wanted to know. Ultimately we fell in love and became inseparable. We kept it a secret from the witch. She would be furious.

One afternoon as we sat by the fireplace, the witch climbed inside. She dragged the prince through the room and threw him down the tower. I begged her to stop but she wouldn't listen. She cut off my hair and said that she would kill me if I dare see him again. It was days, after which I finally gathered my courage to escape from the tower. I waited for the witch to go out to collect food. Thereafter, I cut off my hair and used it climb down just like I had seen the witch do. I ran as quickly as my feet could take me. As I reached the edge of the forest, I saw a dim figure, moving hazily. When I reached closer, I was so happy to see that it was the prince. Sadly he was blinded by the fall from the tower. He was hurting and I was helpless. We sat by the shore and he laid his head in my arms to rest for a while. I couldn't stop myself from crying to see him in so much pain. My tears fell into his eyes and the next thing that happened was magical. My prince could see again! We felt at the top of the world. He took me to his beautiful kingdom and now we are happily married.

Journal entry on the three poems : ‘Ozymandias’ by P.B.Shelly,’ ‘A Dream within a Dream,’ by Edgar Allen Poe and ‘Touched by an Angel,’ by Maya Angelou.’

 The first poem that I am going to review today is ‘Ozymandias’ by P.B.Shelly.’ The reason for me to select this is because, I had done a presentation on it year before last. So I thought it would be interesting and easy as well to go through it once again. ‘Ozymandias’ is a poem where the unknown speaker describes a meeting with someone who has travelled to a place where ancient civilizations once existed. We know from the title that he’s talking about Egypt. The traveller had told the speaker a story about an old statue which is in the middle of the desert. The statue is broken apart, but you can still make out the face of a person. The face looks stern and powerful, like a ruler. The sculptor had done a good job at expressing the ruler’s personality. The ruler was a wicked guy, but he took care of his people and it was most probably a reference made to Ramses II who was a pharaoh of Egypt. On the pedestal near the face, the traveller reads an inscription in which the ruler Ozymandias tells anyone who might happen to pass by that he is the king of kings and at the same time he brags about his work. However there is no other evidence of this in the surrounding area of his giant, broken statue. All we can see is just a lot of sand, as far as we can see. The traveller then ends his story there.

When I read this poem two years back, I couldn’t understand it well. But now I like this poem second best from the seven poems given to us because though short it tells a lot of things about Egypt and its' ruler. The form is a sonnet. I agree with Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem with the theme of having ultimate power, which soon fades away with the kingdom they once rule. It reminds me of the civil wars about which we used to study of in our history lesson, e.g. Battle of Changlimithang. Even today, there are such rulers who are still remembered by the people who have made an impact to the people like Adolf Hitler. The poem goes on to suggest that no matter how powerful you may be now, once you kick the bucket, time will fade away all we've done and all we are. All we are is dust in the wind. We can understand from here that the poet agrees with how nature is in control over all, and even though we may not want things to occur like old age or the end of our reign in a kingdom, it’s going to happen anyway, because nature will always take over. We can’t take the glory to the grave and it will soon be outdone by nature. We can see that the poem as a whole is really short, if we compare it to other poems. On the contrary, I find that his choice of words a bit complicated and finds it difficult to understand. For instance, ‘shatter'd visage, wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command’. I wonder how lips get wrinkled that too of a statue. Shelley’s lines are contradictory to the poem as a whole. Some lines seem lengthy while the poem itself is short. I feel in just a line he is trying to convey so many things, which is probably out of my league. I don’t like too many compressed ideas in a single line because I am not able to imagine it altogether. Even when we read it, it is like too many things rushing at once. Overall, I think the poem is a good epic which documents history.

The next poem I have selected is called ‘A dream within a dream,’ by Edgar Allen Poe.’ By reading the title it seems that there is a dream within a dream. But to me I found the poem bit vague. As I am not much of a poet myself, I am not sure what the poets’ intention is. By that I mean to say, I am not able to figure out what the poet is trying to tell exactly because I am a bit confused as to whether the poet is referring to a dream in the literal sense or in the metaphorical sense. Either way I think that a lot of it is comparing life to a dream or the ideal dream that we hope to find in life and there are things in life that are taken away from us just as dreams slip from our grip.

An aspect of the poem that I find really powerful is the rhyme that goes on throughout the entire poem, giving it a rhythmic sound. It would sound great for a recitation. Some of the lines give out clear imageries which are easily for us to visualise. I can conclude that the author is trying to say that reality is in the eye of the beholder and people only see what they want to see, so everything we experience is in a sense, a dream within a dream.

The last poem for my review is ‘Touched by an Angel,’ by Maya Angelou.’ I liked it best. This poem is about love. Love is given much importance. I think here love is given a mysterious image because I am not sure what kind of love we are actually talking about. Is it the love for your lover, friends or family? So I am just assuming ‘love’ here can be connoted as to what the reader sees as. For me, love that is mentioned here would be my two kids because I feel that I am truly blessed, for having two beautiful angels touch my soul. In fact, I loved this poem so much because I can relate it to my life. It is true that love gives us courage, pleasure and above all freedom. The use of diction is so simple and easy to understand. I can proudly say that this is the kind of style that appeals to me. Unlike the first two poems, I find this poem very easy to grasp. I have also read Maya Angelou’s ‘Phenomenal Woman.’ I really loved that poem. It was fantastic! I had to re-read. After looking at two of her poems, I can gather that the poets’ style of writing is realistic and simple yet, very effective. There isn’t much for me to comment on this poem because like I said it is as easy as it looks, except for figuring out the kind of love that is intended by the poet.

Looking at all the three poems, I find the idea in each completely different from one another. However their style of conveying the message is similar, especially in the first two poems. Both poets have used the device of imageries and none of those are actually happening. One is a narration that has already passed and the other is just a dream or something which is going to happen, if we go in the metaphorical sense. In spite of this, I liked going through these poems.


By Dorji Dema

What is a Woman?

This is an interesting piece I came across while I was in a social site. I thought it was worth sharing here:


A little boy asked his mother, "Why are you crying?" "Because I'm a woman," she told him.

"I don't understand," he said. His Mom just hugged him and said, "And you never will."

Later the little boy asked his father, "Why does mother seem to cry for no reason?"

"All women cry for no reason," was all his dad could say.

The little boy grew up and became a man, still wondering why women cry.

Finally he put in a call to God. When God got on the phone, he asked,

"God, why do women cry so easily?"

God said, "When I made the woman she had to be special.

I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world, yet gentle enough to give comfort.

I gave her an inner strength to endure childbirth and the rejection that many times comes from her children.

I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going when everyone else gives up, and take care of her family through sickness and fatigue without complaining.

I gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all circumstances, even when her child has hurt her very badly.

I gave her strength to carry her husband through his faults and fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart.

I gave her wisdom to know that a good husband never hurts his wife, but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve to stand beside him And finally, I gave her a tear to shed. This is hers exclusively to use whenever it is needed."

"You see my son," said God, "the beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman must be seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart the
place where love resides."

One of my favourite poems...

I Love it!

Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman