Kakatiya University Degree English Sem 4
Unit 2- Requiem for Earth poem O. N. V. Kurup(Translated by K. Jayakumar)
Oh still-not-dead Earth!
Peace to you in your imminent death
Written in my heart.
these lines are
funeral song (and mine).
Tomorrow, when you freeze
In the shade of the dark flower of death
No one will be here
To shed a last teardrop
On your lifeless lips!
I write this down for you Oh still-not-dead Earth!
Peace to you in your imminent death.
You are mother to the mother of the Ancient twelve clans.
You gave birth to children
Who would not live in harmony;
Watching one slaying the other to devour
You shed silent invisible tears.
Then by and by
They started eating you up
In small bouts of revelry;
You did not stop them
But endured it all in great patience.
Those whom you breastfed
Rolling up your green raiment
Have all grown big!
They had a thirst (their final thirst!)
To taste the sacred blood of your heart!
They ripped open the embellished drape
The Sun had gifted his favourite bride; Piercing your naked body with fingernails,
They drank the blood oozing from your wounds;
And in that ribald merriment
The rhythm of death reverberates.
The tale of the Greek youth
Inadvertently wedding his mother
Is indeed old and stale!
These children of Earth
Script a new tale, disrobing their mother;
They sell it in the marketplace and drink.
As their boorish nails-those sharp axes- Continue their fun,
The burning eyes of the Sun
Rain in flaming rage.
Rainclouds seek water to drink;
Misty nights long for chill;
Spring is in search of a tiny flower; Rivers long to flow.
The rhyme of creation is all broken;
The wheels of the chariot of life Are mired in slush.
As long as there remains a drop Of the moonlight of awarenessIn consciousnes
I who was born from you
And sustained by you
Will retain those memories
As honey and vayambu on my tongue.
You are my maiden delight;
You are my final joy
As the holy water drop
Extinguishes my flame.
The sight of a tiny sun in a dewdrop
On a blade of grass sprouted in you
Had ushered in me a splendid dawn.
The deer of my desire grazed
In the shade of your woods.
Like some emergent Prophet
Winds walked on the surface of your sea.
With cradle and lullaby
For a thousand tender fruits
You are awake
You provide swings in a thousand groves
And flutter atop the peepul branch.
You stay there waving your flowery palms
And coo like pigeons.
You share my rapture.
You shuffle and display your canopies
With the flowering crowns of myriad forest trees.
In the rhythmic ripples of a thousand rivers
You scare with the hoot of an owl
And cheer with the shrill of a koel.
You preserve in your casket
A thousand colours to embellish the mind.
You turn the evenings golden.
Disappear into the dark forest, picking up the dusk.
And carry upon your shoulders yet another dawn.
To awaken me and to feed me with honey dew
You hatch an egg in the nest of a halcyon forest
And open it as gently as a poem.
You are the lotus-leaf support
For my water drop-like existence.
I know you are in me in full measure
And these memories are indeed my elixir.
The sweet truth of this fleeting existence
Glows for a moment on the tip of your feather: You are the enchanting swan With music on her wings.
Let that be gone!
But the elixir that is you
Too has been defiled
By the pecking of the crow of death...!
While you move along the solar path as a castaway
With tonsured head and the bundle of humiliation
And the burden of your children's sins,
With the flame of terrible pain
In your half-empty mind,
Dreadful death is seeping into your nerves...
Oh still-not-dead Earth!
This is your song of peace in death
Written in my heart
For your funeral (and mine).
As I shall not remain
To shed the last teardrop on your lifeless lips
Let me write this down:
Oh still-not-dead Earth!
Peace to you in your imminent death.
Eternal peace to you
On your impending death.
Summary:-
The poem Requiem for Earth is written by O. N. V. Kurup (1931–2016). He was a poet, lyricist, and professor of Malayalam literature. He served as a professor at various prestigious government colleges in Kerala. He received numerous prestigious awards including, the Jnanpith Award (2007), Padma Shri (1998), Padma Vibushan (2011), and Kendra Sahithya Akademi Award (1975).
The poet laments the plight of the earth at the hands of its human inhabitants. The poem is at once an appeal, a warning, and a dirge.
The poem A Requiem for Earth is an outcry against the exploitation of nature and Earth by human beings in the name of development. The poet foresees that a day will come when nothing will be left on earth. If the destruction and exploitation continues,there will be no one to even sing a requiem for her.
In the present poem, the poet ONV is of the opinion that Mother Nature is on the verge of extinction. This is because of the deeds of a human being. Man, for the sake of his comfort, is going on to destroy nature. The result is that now we have very few natural resources and unfavourable weather conditions.
Man should be thankful to nature for providing all the things he needs. He longs to live in the shade of the trees and listen to the music that nature plays. He loves to be a part of nature. But the poet laments, saying that though Mother Nature has given everything to her children, they in turn are ungrateful and are continuously harming her by destroying nature in various ways.
The poet feels very sad and sings a sad song for nature, warning mankind that if this continues, a day will come when the whole world will come to an end. So, the poet says it is better to control himself and let nature live on her own.
The poet urges human beings to be grateful to Mother Earth for nurturing and preserving them. O.N.V. points out those human beings with her own milk by eliminating her greenery dress and the verdant hues. Even after drinking her milk, humans were not able to satisfy their thirst, and they began to suck her blood too. The poet anticipates the death of our mighty Earth.
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