Compassion Poem by Gangadharan nair Pulingat..

The king decided to construct a beautiful temple
He called on the Ministers to discuss and said
I have to fulfill a great dream in my life time
I intend to construct a large and beautiful structure
For the sake of beauty, pride, and devotion
Then I propose it to surrender to the god
There must be beautiful sculptures to the building
Having so much domes and engravings all around
That must be a marvel of creativity and construction
No where in the world and no one can imitate it anyway
Find out the best of materials, stones and wood
The best of ivory and sandal wood aplenty
Find out the great carpenters from the villages
The capable masons and skilled workers also
There must be enough materials and workmen
To take up the work at the earliest
I propose to stipulate one strict condition
That any one contributing his labour must be paid
No one is supposed to give donations
Any job and any duty must be compensated from palace
No one is supposed to donate anything to the project
The full credit must be to me and only to me
The full blessings of god must be entitled to me
That is my dream project and I ask to go and find
The man and materials and also the carts to carry
Hundreds of bullock carts may be engaged
To carry out the materials from distant places
Hundreds of horse carts and elephants also
May be engaged for the work whenever it needs
Speed is the criteria, beauty is motivation
The size of the structure must be big and supreme
There must be a large lake out side the walls
For taking a holy bath by the devotees
Every spending cash must be from the palace
This is my ultimatum and violators punished
After a year a marvelous temple came there
Consecration ceremony proposed in detail
Before it the king decided to engrave his name
After settling every wages and costs in time
verifying the liabilities in full and all
No one is entitled as a balance of debt
His name was beautifully engraved in golden letters
He was very happy and pride in the happenings
Another day before consecration he visited the site
Walked along the buildings with pomp and pride
In one of the walls he saw another name engraved
That too in golden letters a lady's name
With angry he called on the ministers and asked
who this fellow and how the name came
No one dared to answer but trembled with fear
Because they were all ignorant about the matter
He asked them to summon all the women in the same name
To the palace ground to question the incident
The day came and women in different ages and positions
Came to the ground and paraded in lines
The king came and asked to them
Who ever contributed to this noble cause must come
Before me at once, or else I will punish
All of you without fail but no one came
Repeated the question several times
Atlast an elderly lady with walking sticks
Walked slowly before the king and bowed her head
Majesty, I committed a service if it is to be reckon
One day when the bullock carts carrying granite load
one of the cart stopped in front of my hut
with tiresome and saliva aplenty coming from its mouth
Having pity on the scene that I gave
A handful of grass and drinking water to it
If it was intended as a crime lord,
May you punish me atonce and permit other to free
I beg your pardon my lord if it is a sin
The generous king thought a while
And then called on the aged women as Mother
With folded hands he asked her pardon and said
All this came from my over pride mother
From my selfish motive of ownership of this holy one
Without society support no one can achieve
Anything goodness in this world I understood
All you may depart from the palace after a dinner
And come back for the ceremonies as scheduled.