I.
Soar forth, beleaguered yearnings of my soul,
And scour the seas of time for solid land.
For pretense reigns our age with heartless toll,
Erodes our hard-won treasures, leaving sand.
Your form is built to vanquish fashion’s waves—
To satisfy those unimpressed by lies—
Dissuading those content to dwell in caves;
Rapt hearing from the faithful is your prize.
Don’t underestimate the names of things,
Uniting and outlasting what they grace.
Names resonate through time on holy wings
Called lips, recalling virtues or a face.
II.
Beauty needs no further introduction.
Arriving, she makes scenery of the world.
Unsuspecting truth lacks shrewd instruction,
And so discloses things best left unfurled.
Do not mistake the cynics for the wise;
To see, yet dare to pray, takes bolder will.
They’d fall and kiss the feet their pride denies,
If only they could sip from wisdom’s rill.
To seek the truth when most have ceased to look,
At best invites the puzzled stare of sheep.
Pay serious credence to a yellowed book,
And you may wake to find the world asleep.
III.
The way they shrink this world, it grieves my heart:
Reducing all of life to what they see.
Defining by what’s best is wisdom’s art:
Preparing soil for excellence to be.
What is untruth, that it can mar the day,
Despite Your shining sun and thinking minds?
What powers cast our souls in disarray,
And steal the blessedness that is mankind’s?
Vain pretense arrogates a sacred name,
And flattering dupes, the false would thus control.
No words can make a limb and man the same,
So grasp a part’s a part; a whole’s a whole.
IV.
Forsaking truth men fall prey to desire,
Which takes whichever shape imprisons you.
Hard truth fears not the blazing test of fire,
And melting in its mold, we’re minted true.
Disjointed fragments juxtaposed in lines
Make up no poem, nor a life comprise.
Subordination to the Lord’s designs
Emancipates us from accursed reprise.
Desires infinite plague finite creatures;
The waves of illusory hopes won’t cease.
Adopt at once the path of mankind’s teachers,
For righteous life alone grants lasting peace.
V.
As selfsame pitch will set a string astir,
Thus souls mark tidings from their holy town.
Ignore them not, that you shall never err,
And don’t collect what only weighs you down.
The saintly songs and books of old attend,
And grasp the seeds of grace these friends impart.
Like trellises for blooms, support they lend,
And purify the longings of the heart.
Retain the Maker’s measure all your days;
Seek Your abode within, not just above.
Delight the saints by singing of Your ways,
And so delighting, win the world for love.
_____
Nihal Singh