Waiting..

..by the window.

(Pic - Outside 'Hawa Mahal,' Jaipur)

Light and Shadow

Light is young, the ancient light;

shadows are of the moment, they are born old.

'Fireflies' - Tagore

Flowers

In full bloom
oozing
fragrance of
bliss and innocence.

                                   In the pic: Anamika and Krishnapriya

Alone

From childhood’s hour I have not been

As others were—I have not seen

As others saw—I could not bring

My passions from a common spring—

From the same source I have not taken

My sorrow—I could not awaken

My heart to joy at the same tone—

And all I lov’d—I lov’d alone!

Then—in my childhood—in the dawn

Of a most stormy life—was drawn

From ev’ry depth of good and ill

The mystery which binds me still—

From the torrent, or the fountain—

From the red cliff of the mountain—

From the sun that ’round me roll’d

In its autumn tint of gold—

From the lightning in the sky

As it pass’d me flying by—

From the thunder, and the storm—

And the cloud that took the form

(When the rest of Heaven was blue)

Of a demon in my view.

Edgar Allan Poe :  'Alone'

Edgar Allan Poe - American romantic poet and critic, is widely regarded as the architect of modern short stories. Poe was the principal forerunner of the “art for art’s sake” movement in nineteenth-century literature. Born to parents who were professional actors in Boston, Poe lost both of them before he was three years old. Later he was raised by John Allan, a prosperous businessman from Virginia though his foster father never legally adopted him.

Poe was brilliant at academics, but he had to leave his studies at the university due to inadequate financial support from Allan. Soon he enlisted in the army and published his first collection of poetry, 'Tamerlane, and Other Poems.' His first few works went totally unnoticed within the literary circles.  In 1836 he married his cousin, Virginia. Later he rose to prominence through several journals that he edited during 1840s.

Poe was not only a superlative author of poetry and fiction, but also a literary critic whose level of imagination and insight had hitherto been unexplored in American literature. After his wife’s death from tuberculosis in 1847, Poe became involved in a number of romantic affairs. While arrangements for his second marriage were going on, Poe arrived in Baltimore in late September 1849 and on October 3, he was discovered in a state of semi-consciousness; he died four days later. His last few days remain a mystery.

Poe was fascinated by science and technology. He made marvelous chronicles of science fiction which later became a type of literature in twentieth century.  His premier works remain intrinsic to the idea of modernism many years later. The 22 lined 'Alone,' written in 1829, left untitled and unpublished during Poe's lifetime, is often interpreted as autobiographical, expressing Poe's feelings of isolation.

(Photo from Cherai Beach, Vypin Island, Cochin)