Three Poems by Amita Sarjit Ahluwalia (Amita Paul)

 

The Circular Forms Trilogy

 

A Rondeau, A Rondelle and A Rondeau Redouble

1. 

ROUGH TIMES 

 

The times are rough so men will die

Oh, women too, and children, cry 

As much as your limits allow

Cry out while still you may as now

The times are rough 

 

Times will be rougher by and by 

And you may be stifled mid-sigh

No frown may then wrinkle your brow

Times will be rougher

 

You want to keep your powder dry

But do you not see moments fly 

That will never return so how 

Do you propose to keep your vow

To keep the flag of freedom high

When times turn rougher? 

By and by.

 

( A Rondeau with one extra refrain line )

2.

THE FUTILITY OF EXISTENCE 

 

The whole of life seems futile at the end 

That is if you get time to think it through

For how long life will last is beyond you

No minute can you shorten or extend 

 

Though it’s part of our nature to pretend 

That somehow everything has some value 

The whole of life seems futile at the end 

That is if you get time to think it through

 

Admittedly it’s very hard to view

All that you are as just an accident, 

But equally it’s silly to contend 

That you know when in fact you have no clue 

That is if you get time to think it through .

The whole of life seems futile at the end.

 

( A Rondelle ) 

 

3. 

WORLD WEARINESS

 

O Weary Weary Day ! When will you pass ?

When shall I feel the coolth of Night again ? 

When will the Dew renew the sun-scorched grass ?

When shall I feel some easing of my pain ?

 

My eyes are sore waiting for Night in vain

They hurt as though they’re full of broken glass

And I repeat the same plaintive refrain : 

O Weary Weary Day ! When will you pass ?

 

Why does each day more agony amass ? 

Why do I always lose every bargain ? 

I give Life’s gold and get only Sun’s brass : 

When shall I feel the coolth of Night again ? 

 

My flowers wither for lack of sweet rain

My life seems to have reached a strange impasse

The buds of Hope are shackled in Fear’s chain

When will the Dew renew the sun-scorched grass ?

 

I sink deeper into the dread morass

I bear on my forehead the Mark of Cane

Guilt and Despair my captive soul harass

When shall I feel some easing of my pain ?

 

So many sins my once pure Soul now stain 

I seek cover of darkness , Night’s compass

This deep Despair that goes against the grain

Keeps nagging me until I ask, Alas ! 

When shall I feel the coolth of Night again ?

O Weary Weary Day !

 

( A Rondeau Redouble )

 

 

Amita Sarjit Ahluwalia is the pen name of Amita Paul, a retired civil servant who is at heart a poet and teacher. She writes , mostly poetry, in English, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu. She was awarded the NISSIM International Poetry Award 2019 and then the Reuel international Award 2020 for Non- Fiction Prose, while Destiny International Community of Poets UK, declared her Poet of the Year 2020 as well as Critic of the Year 2020, and again in 2021. Women Empowered India have just declared her their WE Greenheart 2022 jointly with Bengal based poetess Rituparna Khan. Her work has been published in several international anthologies and also in many journals and online magazines such as Das Literarisch, Doaba, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Yugen Quest Review, Setu Bilingual Magazine, GloMag, Fasihi Magazine, and Spillwords, besides twice being among selected featured poems on the global NaPoWriMo Website, once in April 2021 and then again recently in April 2022.