Always From The East Poem by Leonard Dabydeen
Always From The East
Now the British comes to shore
wet and tired from colonial gatherings
he sits on the bench
in the park smoking a cigar
and watching ducks
play in a pool
falling asleep as the centuries
drift in a dream
wakes up looking at the carpet
being rolled out curry-stained
on the ruffled edges
in a corner Mahatma Gandhi
is eating dal and roti
and looking at the children
marking pages of the British constitution
they too eating
tandori naan and drinking chai
listening with intent
musical hummings of Rabindranath Tagore
and reading Gitanjali
as a new beginning
of the sun comes rising again
always from the East.
this poem reminded me of whatever little colonial literature i've studied...what ferocity! what blood-stained episodes of history! to what end! the poem carries old ideas with entirely new images in a new light like British tired from colonial gatherings....n the rising of the sun from the East....the poem is also a wonder of run-on-line arrangement that shows a flow of thought....
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/16/2024 2:14:22 PM # 1.0.0.1119
a very poignant and lovely write.....cheers Ah! ....to what end...! my respected poet friend asks.... go ye next to the London museum....read ye Somerset Maugham.....roam ye the world from Cairo to Fiji...skip thee the waves from Andamans to Falklands.....and surely you shall reflect and remember the Bard.....i quote....from Julius caeser Marcus Antonius's speech ....the evil that men do............ i rest my case. :) sat