Rm.Shanmugam Chettiar. (June 15,1942 / Aravayal, karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, South India)
Poems by Rm.Shanmugam Chettiar. : 2652 / 7394
Life passes through, not being born.
The flowers think they gave birth to seeds,
The shoots, they gave birth to the flowers,
And the plants, they gave birth to the shoots,
So do the seeds they gave birth to plants.
You think you gave birth to the child.
None thinks they are only entrances
For the life force that passes through.
A life is not born, it passes through.
04.01.2003
Rm.Shanmugam Chettiar.
Submitted: Monday, December 21, 2009
Edited: Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Poems by Rm.Shanmugam Chettiar. : 2652 / 7394
Comments about this poem (Life passes through, not being born. by Rm.Shanmugam Chettiar. )
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I would rather say that you think that 'flowers think they gave birth to seeds'. A common error in poetry is to project too much onto things like flowers and stones, etc. You can do that to suggest human moods and feelings, but the problem begins when you want to convey in this way something as though it were scientific fact. Your point is sufficiently well made in the last four lines. Kahlil Gibran has made a similar point in The Prophet, I believe.