Island Poem by Nissim Ezekiel

Island

Rating: 3.4


Unsuitable for song as well as sense
the island flowers into slums
and skyscrapers, reflecting
precisely the growth of my mind.
I am here to find my way in it.
Sometimes I cry for help
But mostly keep my own counsel.
I hear distorted echoes
Of my own ambigious voice
and of dragons claiming to be human.
Bright and tempting breezes
Flow across the island,
Separating past from the future;
Then the air is still again
As I sleep the fragrance of ignorance.
How delight the soul with absolute
sense of salvation, how
hold to a single willed direction?
I cannot leave the island,
I was born here and belong.
Even now a host of miracles
hurries me a daily business,
minding the ways of the island
as a good native should,
taking calm and clamour in my stride.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
M Asim Nehal 05 January 2016

Very well written poem, birthplace remains dear to everyone....10

5 0 Reply
B.m. Biswas 06 June 2016

Slams....the picture the poem portrays is the proof of the shame of modern society...humanity....great poem...the birdwatcher..

4 0 Reply
A. Madhavan 06 June 2016

As a graduate student I rejoiced when the Illustrad Weekly printed some; Nissim Ezekiel was the presiding talent in the decades from 1950 on; later, P. Lal, also Dom Moraes. Glad to find this poem of N.E. here.

4 0 Reply
Edward Kofi Louis 06 June 2016

I am here to find my way in it! Thanks for sharing.

3 0 Reply

As I sleep the fragrance of ignorance.......A meaningful poem of human thoughts and failures.

2 0 Reply
Nice poem 12 January 2022

Growth of mind my own counsel

1 0 Reply
Dr Antony Theodore 06 September 2020

Even now a host of miracles hurries me a daily business, minding the ways of the island as a good native should, taking calm and clamour in my stride. A very fine poem. tony

0 0 Reply

I like the.l8ne I hearthe echoes of my own distorted voicesIt.is a brief but a

0 1 Reply
Dr Antony Theodore 06 September 2019

I hear distorted echoes Of my own ambigious voice and of dragons claiming to be human. very good poem indeed. tony

0 0 Reply
saravanan 18 July 2019

it's a awesome poem...

0 0 Reply
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