To meet and say farewell
to this part of me
that turns and returns
with a different partner
in a square dance,
meeting before I begin to see,
seeing after I have done
with meeting,
squaring at last in a glimpse
the ancient circle of you and me:
how can I say farewell
when farewells are made
only for people who stay
and only for people
who go away?
-A.K. Ramanujan
Submitted by:
Sriram Vittalamurthy.Postscript:
Ramanujam is a favourite – you may have come across him previously here, here, and here.
You can read more about him here, here, and here.
Tagged: A.K. Ramanujam, loss, lyric poetry, mystic, philosophy
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[…] and reminds me of Dickinson and Rilke. You can read other poems by Ramanujam on this site here; Instead of a Farewell, Self Portrait, and Extended Family. You can read a poem from Tamil translated by him that […]
One Comment
Think I’ll try reading more poetry after reading this. Thank you!
But I have ta tell you, I still can’t unnerstan’ most of the pomes my fb friends post on my wall. I hit ‘like’ politely, so as not offend ’em.