Glimpses of a Poem 1

Some words from the master of Marathi poem, the one and only "Grace".

paauus aalaa paauus aalaa
gaaraa.nchaa varshaav
gure aDakalee raanaamadhye
dayaaghanaa too dhaav

Second two lines of the stanza gives a drift to the whole poem, showing us the concern in the eyes of the farmer. See, when someone talks about cattle the place of the poem can be depicted easily as a country side, rural area, may be a "gaav" of some 100 houses. The real pain of the last two lines can only be understood when we substitute the word "gure" (cattle) with "mule" (children).

mule aDakalee raanaamadhye
dayaaghanaa too dhaav

For a farmer his cattle is just like his children so what children mean to us is cattle mean to him. Now feel the pain of dear ones in distress and your helplessness of not being able to do anything to save them. So the only place to ask for help is now the almighty who has created all the things.

The word "dayaaghanaa" chosen to call the almighty has deep meaning. Prayer is for god to provide help as we cannot provide help, even if we try. These lines exactly express our helplessness over the natural resources and their calamities.

Tushar
(mee aahe shabda haLavaa, shabdaa shabdaa.nnee phulaNaaraa, shabdaa.nchyaa hi.ndoLyaavar dhu.ndeet sadaa jhulaNaaraa - yours truly)