Archive for the ‘Poem’ Category


April 28th, 2010

Natalie Merchant sings old poems to life

Natalie Merchant’s ambitious new album, Leave Your Sleep — a brilliant and beautiful musical adaptation of near-forgotten 19th- and 20th-century British and American children’s poetry, out today to nearly a decade worth of anticipation.

“What I really enjoyed about this project was reviving these people’s words, taking them off the dead flat pages, bringing them to life. Bringing them to light.”

Natalie Merchant

Courtesy: TED, Brain Pickings
Natalie Merchant sings from her new album, Leave Your Sleep. Lyrics from near-forgotten 19th-century poetry pair with her unmistakable voice for a performance that brought the TED audience to its feet.

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November 20th, 2009

A father’s letter to his son’s teacher

For a poor listener, yesterday it turned out that I am an avid eavesdropper. At the inconspicuous tailoring shop, I overheard a mother drilling and harassing her 3 years old in order to prepare her for the interview to get admission into the “big school”.  Its not a “big school” that matters, but a “good school”; and I was reminded of something that I once read.

A father’s letter to his son’s teacher

He will have to learn, I know,
that all men are not just,
all men are not true.
But teach him also that
for every scoundrel there is a hero;
that for every selfish politician,
there is a dedicated leader…
Teach him for every enemy there is a friend.

Steer him away from envy.
If you can, 
teach him
the secret of 
quiet laughter.

Let him learn early that
the bullies are the easiest to lick…
Teach him, if you can,
the wonder of books…
But also give him quiet time
to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky,
bees in the sun,
and the flowers on a green hillside.

In the school teach him
it is far honourable to fail 
than to cheat…
Teach him to have faith 
in his own ideas,
even if everyone tells him they are wrong…
Teach him to be gentle with gentle people,
and tough with the tough.

Try to give my son
the strength not to follow the crowd
when everyone is getting on the band wagon…
Teach him to listen to all men…
but teach him also to filter
all he hears on a screen of truth,
and take only the good 
that comes through.

Teach him if you can,
how to laugh when he is sad…
Teach him there is no shame in tears,
Teach him to scoff at cynics
and to beware of too much sweetness…
Teach him to sell his brawn and brain to the highest bidders
but never to put a price-tag 
on his heart and soul.

Teach him to close his ears
to a howling mob
and to stand and fight 
if he thinks he’s right.
Treat him gently,
but do not cuddle him,
because only the test 
of fire makes fine steel.

Let him have the courage
to be impatient…
let him have the patience to be brave.
Teach him always
to have sublime faith in himself,
because then he will have 
sublime faith in mankind.

This is a big order,
but see what you can do…
He is such a fine little fellow, 
my son!

-X-X-X-

Very often the authorship of this profound letter is spuriously attributed to Abraham Lincoln
but its authorship is inconsequential
It is the beauty and sincerity of the words
that one needs to imbibe.

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Posted in Education, Learner centric teaching, Poem | 1 Comment »

October 26th, 2009

ON CHILDREN

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, ‘Speak to us of Children.’

And he said:

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts.

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;

For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

By Kahlil Gibran(1883-1931)

kahlil-gibran

I started reading works of Kahlil Gibran when I was in college. Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), the Lebanese poet par excellence,  wrote powerful and profound poems, that for me are a reference point, whenever I wanted to delve deeper to understand worldly phenomena be it love, beauty, freedom or friendship. His lucid and yet philosophical style makes complicated concepts so accessible and comprehensible, cutting through the jargon and subjectivity. As a parent, at the cognitive level, I understand this particular poem on children from his collection “The Prophet”, but at the behavioural level, I am training myself to imbibe it in my interaction with my three-year old.

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July 22nd, 2009

The Animal School

I found this incredible write-up/poem about an imaginary animal school. Did I say imaginary? The setting may be imaginary, but the characteristics highlighted are widely prevalent.

-x-x-x-

Once upon a time the animals decided they must do something decisive to meet the increasing complexity of their society. They held a meeting and finally decided to organize a school.

The curriculum consisted of running, climbing, swimming and flying. Since these were the basic behaviours of most animals, they decided that all the students should take all the subjects.

The duck proved to be an excellent swimmer, better in fact, than his teacher. He also did well in flying. But he proved to be very poor in running. Since he was poor in this subject, he was made to stay after school to practice it and even had to drop swimming in order to get more time in which to practice running. He was kept at his poorest subject until his webbed feet were badly damaged that he became only average in swimming. But average was acceptable in the school, so nobody worried about that-except the duck.

The rabbit started at the top of her class in running, but finally had a nervous breakdown because of so much make up time in swimming – a subject she hated.

The squirrel was excellent at climbing until he developed a psychological block in flying class, when the teacher insisted he started from the ground instead of from the tops of trees. He was kept at attempting to fly until he became muscle-bound and received a C in climbing and a D in running.

The eagle was the school’s worst discipline problem; in climbing class, she beat all of the others to the top of the tree used for examination purposes in this subject, but she insisted on using her own method of getting there.

The gophers, of course, stayed out of school and fought the tax levied on education because digging was not included in the curriculum. They apprenticed their children to the badger and later joined the groundhogs and eventually started a private school offering alternative education.

-x-x-x-

PS: I would love to know whose figment of fantastic imagination this piece is !

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Posted in Education, Learner centric teaching, Poem | 2 Comments »