This one comes fresh off-the-racks from The Wondering Minstrels. Another gem from Vikram Seth who paints a beautiful poem with his senstivity and gentle observation. Here’s to more of these…
“A Style of Loving”
Light now restricts itself
To the top half of trees;
The angled sun
Slants honey-coloured rays
That lessen to the ground
As we bike through
The corridor of Palm Drive.
We two
Have reached a safety the years
Can claim to have created:
Unconsummated, therefore
Unjaded, unsated.
Picnic, movie, ice-cream;
Talk; to clear my head
Hot buttered rum — coffee for you;
And so not to bed.
And so we have set the question
Aside, gently.
Were we to become lovers
Where would our best friends be?
You do not wish, nor I
To risk again
This savoured light for noon’s
High joy or pain.
— Vikram Seth
radhika74 says:
Beautiful!
August 29, 2006 — 4:24 am
Lakshmi says:
My sentiments.
August 29, 2006 — 7:39 pm
latelyontime says:
Hmmm definitely not my favourite Vikram Seth moment. In fact,when I first read this, I was disappointed. I appreciate Seth for the lyricism of his poetry and for the exactitude he brings to the meterical patterns. He is one of the few modern writers who, I think, can play with meters like he was born thumping them on his hands. This one sounds too verbose to me…but then it is just a question of personal taste, I guess.
August 29, 2006 — 5:01 am
Lakshmi says:
I love poetry but I can’t seem to view it from the meter/rhyme/rhythm POV. Maybe because I didn’t ever learn appreciation. It is appealing – simple.
August 29, 2006 — 7:40 pm
latelyontime says:
Oh I love poetry too….and I think all good writing appeals – prose or poetry. But when something calls itself poetry, I do look for poetic devices in it…probably comes of five years of Englitting. Here is a small snippet I came across yesterday…now this, be poetry!
Tell me, if I caught you one day
and kissed the sole of your foot,
wouldn’t you limp a little then,
afraid to crush my kiss?
— Nichita Stanescu
August 30, 2006 — 7:11 am
Lakshmi says:
Fabulous! There are many like these that I have read on Minstrels. Lemme see if I can post more of those.
August 30, 2006 — 6:57 pm
latelyontime says:
do do that.
August 31, 2006 — 4:13 am
shri says:
Beautiful!
August 29, 2006 — 5:58 am
Lakshmi says:
Glad you liked it!
August 29, 2006 — 7:40 pm
rileen says:
Chicken!
Lovely poem, though.
August 29, 2006 — 8:16 pm
Lakshmi says:
Too chicken to run the risk of finding that the answer to the question is not to your liking?
August 29, 2006 — 9:14 pm
rileen says:
Exactly. The all too familiar fear of rejection.
August 29, 2006 — 9:34 pm