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Revenge is necessary (crude version)

It happens all of a sudden:
The breaking of the dreams you called your own
The demise of the world you thought was yours
The curdling of,
your ignorant heart.

You cannot lie, it happens:
You revisit tragedies.
For you are aware that
re-visits trivialize hard truths,
the depth as well as the high.

One sad evening you sat by that window,
I know you did:
And let anger burn you inside-out,
and splinters split through you,
as you sat by, the window to your soul.

I saw your eyes speak to me:
Your lifetime of holding sane,
the pipeline of bottled pain,
cycles running over and end,
Only to begin, yet again.

The only way out, the only respite:
Avenge your sorrows
not drown in your plight.
At the confluence of bursting fire and simmering tears,
the burning revenge ends on the pyre of fear.

By merging defeat into an acceptance speech of life,
You’ve become a woman, not just a man’s wife.

~Proma

Comments

Vivek Sharma said…
achanak hota hai
apnay sapno ka tootna
apni duniya ka doobna
jamm jana
hridhaya ka

tum jhootlaa nahin sakte, hota hai
tum haadson ki fir raah karte ho
jaante ho, ki fir ussi raah ja-kar
tdos sach pighal jayengay
gehre bhi, oochay bhi.

ek udaas shaam, tum baithay thay
khidki par,
main jaanti hun, tum baithay thay
apne krodh ko jalta chodd
apne krodh se khud ko jhulasta chod
aur jalti dhooni tumko cheerti gayee
jab tum baithay thay,
khidki par,
aatma ki.

Maine tumhari aankhon ko bolte dekha,
mujhse batiyate dekha,
tumhare jeevan ko pagalpane se bachcha kar
dard ke dabay ehsaason ko daudti pipe-on mein beh kar
unhi dairon mein dobara dobara
ghoomtay dekha
khatam hota dekha,
fir shuru honay ke liye
bar bar mit-tay dekha

aur ekmatra rasta,
ek matra tasalee

I get LOST AFTER THIS>>>>

CHECK MEANING AND USAGE of word revenge....

and also rewrite last few lines....

Promaji, aadhe adhure kaam nahin chalega:P
Proma said…
Bahut acche Vivek ji - good try :)

Revenge can be used as a verb as well - if that is what you were pointeing out. Avenge doesnt sound half as passionate a word to me as "revenge"
Proma said…
The last para :

"The only way out, the only respite:
Revenge your sorrows
not drown in your plight.
At the confluence of bursting fire and simmering tears,
the burning revenge ends on the pyre of fear."

The lines describe the landmark moment when a person crosses the bridge of fear. That bridge is crossed forever by
(1) A combination of anger and suffering leads the person to the
conclusion that "Revenge is necessary". Fighting against injustice is a natural reaction as opposed to "forgiveness" (a quality much desired esp. in women).

(2) The "Confluence" between revenge and simmering tears - I've heard from many women that they have cried hard while the actual emotion they were going through was anger. Not many men have confided in me whether they do the same (i.e. they like me to think they would rather break bones than shed tears at such times :))
The tears shed are tears of fire, not tears of repression.

(3) The "Pyre" of fear - means the end of Fear, the crossing of the bridge forever.
Vivek Sharma said…
well Proma,

If you promise to appear with your every poem, and you promise to patiently explain this to every person, maybe I will smile, shake my head, and let you off.

Lets assume that is not possible. So I will throw curses on you. How will you TAKE revenge? Will you revenge your sorrows? or avenge your avenge your sorrows?

Tears are always hot. So the word fire does not show anger. Simmering also fails for me.

I can see what you want to say Promaji:)

My problem is you haven't used the right words, or right sentences.

aur ek matra raasta,
aur ek matra tasalee,
hai pratishodh mein.

apni takleefon mein doob jaati ho jab tum,
tab aag joe tapakti hai aankho se,
woh pratishodh ki agni, maano darr ki chita par ho kar Sati
woh aag bhi ban jaati hai paani.

de zindagi ko milaa ke haar mein, haalat mein,
sirf patni hi nahin kissi mard ki,
ban gayee tum aurat koi
Anonymous said…
Two questions:
1. Why does re-visting past tragedies, hard truths, trivialise them?

2. To put it simply - Is this your interpretation of that last para: You will cross the bridge and put an end to your fears, by crying tears of revenge? Which is a passive form of anger, and not revenge per se? I don't think shedding simmering tears would make a woman go out there with a hacksaw and seek "revenge" in the conventional sense of the term.

Very thoughtful poem - good work...
Anonymous said…
Also:

Crying - does not solve anything. Neither does it give you a sense of being revenged/avenged/compensated for your anger. Crying just makes you feel better, helps you accept the tragedy. And thats why your last line is so apt and powerful.
Proma said…
Anonymous - Your analysis is wonderful.
Re-visits trivializes the harshness just as getting accustomed to something makes us take it for granted. It is human nature. And that not necessarily is a bad thing. It lets us move ahead in life without getting sucked into the past.

"The burning revenge ends on the pyre of fear".

Notice that Revenge ends with the Ends of fear. Fearlessness is the destination that revenge actually seeks but may or may not achieve. Fighting with sticks or cursing someone silently, all are different manifestations of revenge.

I am not sure what a woman's tears always mean despite being a woman myself. Once I figure out, I can better answer your other questio.
I think that crying signifies mourning for the loss and getting ready to move on.
Anonymous said…
Thanks...your poem has touched a chord in me somewhere, and I'm doing my best to understand it properly.

"Fearlessness is the destination that revenge actually seeks but may or may not achieve."
I may be wrong in saying this - If/when you reach that state of fearlessness, that's when you stop revisiting and crying about things past. Because your acceptance of the past has numbed you. And in most cases, it probably no longer matters. Think of a tragedy in your youth, say poor exam results in Grade 12, breaking up with your highschool sweetheart - might have been painful at the time, the revenge might have lasted a year or two... but you've moved on! Time is the great healer.

I'm a woman too, and I know what my tears mean most of the time, though not always. 1% can be attributed to PMS! The remaining 99% occurs over three stages - I cry about the injustice of the situation, of not being able to tell my story. I then cry because of that fear you talk about - the fear of loss, fear of being unloved, of not finding happiness again. Lastly, I cry because I'm unable to do anything else but accept my situation and move on. And I will keep crying (I don't mean literally, 24/7) until I become fearless again. Or until the next tragedy stikes, and the cycle continues :)

BTW - I apologise for such a long comment!
Proma said…
Hi Anonymous, I'm sorry for the delayed reply. If you happen to read this... there is a poet's mind within you too. Your words resound the beauty within you, despite being obviously aware of the complex circus that the world really is. I'm glad to find readers like you...
GS said…
Breaking of dreams
Demise of the world
Ignorance of the heart
Burning anger/pain/sorrow
Lifetime of love bottled up

Revenge isn't the answer...
Loquacious eyes aren't the answer...
Communication isn't the answer...

The real answer is who you are + what you want - when you know that - revenge isn't necessary anymore...anger fades away into calm...pain and sorrow lose their power allowing the happier emotions to shine through once again...

Very impressive work.
Ruksana said…
babe, awesome is all i can say, i read it and re-read it and its just an amazing part of you that you've put into those words, it will touch a chord in so many people's lives for sure, cant say no more, just awesome!
Anonymous said…
GS - At the risk of starting one of those unsolvable Mars-Venus debates(!), I think it needs a woman's mind to understand the pathos of this poem. Though I must say Vivek's Hindi version is beautiful...

Revenge, loquacious eyes being a part of that revenge - may not be the answer. But they help a woman to accept her lot in life.

Knowing who you are and what you want, is just part of the answer. Not all of it. The nature of human society is such that if you're not able to communicate who you are and what you want properly and explicitly to those who need to know, S**t happens!

A woman is often not able to communicate this - due to various reasons. The end-result being that her story is left unsaid, her lifetime of bottled love then releases itself in the form of shedding silent tears now and then....
Proma said…
A poem is meant to be interpreted differently by different people. It is extremely, and me stress extremely again, to hear the different viewpoints and interpretations, some that even the author hadn't thought about. All is about expression, and exposure. Thanks folks for reading(love the enthu!)
TearsOfSilence said…
Just came across your blog...

From your poetry you seem hurt, wary of things around yourself and certainly you connect with things which most people would not feel in their lives. I found it very interesting even though you end it with a woman's perspective. I'd rather have you leave the last line.

Peace,
Sriram

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