Memories Poem by Venkateswaran Krishnan Sreenivasan

We were village urchins scantily clad
In loincloth, yet playful and glad,
One at one with Nature and living in the open
From dawn to dusk to the age of ten

I remember some faces like stars through the cloud
My memory being submerged in the flood waters of time
Overgrown and dimmed by the aging shroud;
Stories should be told by poets in their prime.

I remember my friends youthful and gay
Who joined me in my trekking all the way
To school and back through fields and streams
Where are they now; only in my dreams

I remember my teachers as sages and saints
Holy preceptors sans blots or taints
The leading lights to my earthly bliss
Still the shining stars in the dark abyss

Epitomes of work, virtue and love
My parents to me are like the gods above
They endowed me with their values bold
In letters, not in silver or gold

I remember the angel in priestly robe
Who was the beacon for my healing role
Now in his nineties nearer his goal
Divine, yet with memory green for this blessed soul

As medicos in the fifties past, we were closely knit
And being in our twenties, we were in every nerve fit
For our mission; now in our seventies, many have quit
The scene for ever and a few of us often meet



I remember my professors beyond compare
As gems of knowledge and wisdom, now so rare
Their memories prod our minds to attain
Heights of glory, unmindful of gain

Memories are both a blessing and a curse
Blessing when they are heartening and sweet
And bail you out of predicaments coarse
A curse when bit by bit they bite off your grit

Fond memories, fodder for the fertile brain
Evoke noble thoughts that sprout like saplings after rain
The bitter ones are battered by this flood of thought
And must always be fettered and fought

Memories cherished are a gift from Heaven
A benediction to humans to attain His haven
Love, compassion and gratitude to learn
And imbibe His attributes, not riches to earn