The Solitary Man. Poem by Jose Mathews Kannamplal

The Solitary Man.
Away from voice, and noise, absence of haste and confusion,
Far away from the madding crowd, hasty drive, and pride,
Calmness, tranquillity, and quietness, conserves the solitude.
How many a mighty men, have grown in the seashores of solitude,
The silence beckons us to learn the art of solitude and stillness.

Oh! What a world? What a world of madness haste and waste,
A world of rush and mesh, who abuse and forget to use,
Oh! What a mess! Who are caught up in the rat race of life?
Who are in the race, and pushing for more, more, and more.

Those who strive through the peril, toil and pain, though in vain!
Those men, in the web of life, and money, who forget their wife,
Neglect their children, and forget to live, in their strife.
Tension and pressure, anxiety and stress, are common as flu among you,

Oh bring us back once more, the past glory and the vanished days of yore
Men and Women stagger from sea to sea, from land to land in frenzy,
Wander from North to South and East to West for the joyance of life,
Did they ever receive the melody of life or what they are searching for?

Did they lose the ability to go slow and in peace and the satiety?
Oh when this tide will turn, and when this pride will burn?
For an insatiable thirst for passionate stillness, solitude and peace!

Oh man! Get all you can, and can all you get for the empty vaunt,
You drive in a van, and in the end drive in to a harsh ban.
Men and Women are running for monasteries and resorts
To withdraw from the rush and tumble of rush life.

Oh master my life, touch it afresh with thy loving finger.
Where I may get the unmitigated joy I search for?
Where in farms or flowers, silence or solitude?
The healing touch we need, not from the galaxy of experts,

Or, from the super specialist of modern Science of Medicine
Oh! Sometime the lifestyle is taking too much out of us,
And how we long and crave for nature's healing touch.
Far away from the urban bustle, noise, smoke and pollution,

To walk on a tranquil green terrain, and to breathe day and night
Rejuvenating, fresh air and life and feel the shrill delight.
Away my soul! Away my soul! From the clash and clamour of human intrusion!
Take a rest, away from the rest, from the feverish movement of modern man.

Hey! Enjoy the meaningful silence of nature, "no speech nor language".
Sometimes I feel like walking through the Alpine mountains of solitude,
Simply enjoying the crystalline air, silence, and its glorious orchids!
The sweet symphonies of nature, will lead your emotions to mature for sure,

Weary man! The gentle nature is engaged in mending the broken tendon, of mind.
The sea and sand, sun and surf, discloses secrets that stirred me to the depth.
The broad expanse of the ocean, sweeps me away to the utmost horizon's breadth.
In every eve I strolled, barefooted along the shimmering sands of a remote bit beach.

Sat down at the Secluded and peaceful base of the rugged cliffs and its reach,
That faces the surge of thousands of storms, which reminds me of life's storm.
Oh a profound sense of peace and solitude swept over my soul and it grew.
The wide expanse of the ocean, long views and sweeping vistas of peace we drew,

The rough steps and stones you tread later use them as pillow, to rest your weary head.
When fear and foe confounds me, I am feeble, some times I feel, I am fold,
When my soul is faint, weary and thirsty, sometimes I feel I am sold,
When I know I am not a shuttled thread in the loom of fate, I feel I am bold.

Then my inner being said, courage my soul and let your journey on to land untold.
Sometime steps of life are like the step of a conqueror, who has never failed
Like a blithe song with its voice always soared upward like that of a lark's.
When I am going through the darkest valleys, of life and lonely ways,

When by the bitter waves of woe, have beaten me and my ways sways,
The billows of life, flows over me, and restless current is sweeping,
The sudden storms, that comes beyond my control my heart is weeping,
The storm that leaves me stunned and breathless but there is a stern, that is keeping,

Can we hire a man do all your worrying, and keep all our sorrows burring?
Can his healing hand be kept on me, and touch this broken heart,
Can any one pilot this sobbing life, and steer this lonely cart,
Oh! The sensual lure of better tomorrow, robs the joy from us today.

The work that I came to do remains Undone, woe! To this day,
I have spent my days looking around, behind and ahead hidden,
When I will look in to the things of present to do unbidden
Have I been spending my time into looking in broken cisterns?

Or have I been focused on the agony of my wishes or my concerns?
Oh mortal man smile, raze out the written pains of mind, Behind every pain,
There is a gain, from all the storm and tumult of the sea, you will regain,
The songs of sorrow has heaven's blithe and its own solemn notes,

Are like the sweetest symphonies of nightingale so pure and intense.
His love has many lonely trail, many a hidden paths, and sudden surprises
Which may seem empty dead ends? Without an allure and closed to access!
Oh the mystery of his ways with men, no outward eye can simply trace.

Why Oh! Soul you lament, sighing to thyself, and why heavily laden,
Console my soul, the flowers of the Alps, are buried for months and months,
Under the snow, yet all the time with full of hope and energy,
As sun does it job and melts the snow, they open into glorious bloom.

Oh! The brilliant stones, are made more and more beautiful,
Polished by its own dust, to beat the rest and be the best.
Roughly cut and coarse at first, a diamond made to sparkle,
Rubbed and rubbed again with diamond dust, and buffed.
Jose Mathews Kannamplal.2009.