The Whole And The Whole Itself Or Sampoornam --- A Poem by Ramesh Iyengar
The best dinner requires no compliments.
The best painting needs no criticism.
The best battlefield needs no victory jubilations.
The elite athlete needs no laurels.
The mid-spring warrants no Odes or Sonnets.
The excellent things are self-explanatory.
Like the excellent culinary chef,
who does not await
your praises on an
extravagant epicurean meal
(or bohemian meal) …….
Whole things need no filling stuff.
What can you add to a fine, English spring morning ?
or a snowfall season in Kashmir mountains.
Artists need no lavishing eulogy.
Mona Lisa never requires a book of criticism.
You see,
things are self – containing in itself.
Accomplished deeds in wholesomeness
are all – inclusive.
Your supplementing criticism
stands odd and singled –out.
Epic authors finished their
final Canto lines
in self – content.
So, the next time,
look not at your critic's face,
eager and awaiting,
after finishing
a long melody sequence on your piano,
of course,
for heaping commendations.
(Written in a tissue paper during a flight journey from
Trivandrum to Abu Dhabi)
Ramesh Iyengar
