The Indian Association of Palliative Care celebrated this year’s World Poetry Day by publishing ‘A symphony of Words: A collection of poems‘ penned by our very own friends from the palliative care community. We continue to share a poem, each week, for our friends to enjoy!
The poem for this week, Poem #9 of 25..
‘Pause…’ by Dr Nandini Vallath, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
I see you prancing …. alongside, the words of the wise…
..delightfully deep … yet empty, when otherwise…
I smell you in the fragrant bloom … as it blossoms in the dark
In the darting glow in arid woods…., ever ready to spark
I hear you in the waves that kiss the shore, void and spent
… and in the depth of the oceans … resolute to heave, and ascent…
I feel you as The Equipoise …. that refines my deeds …
As the inspiring stillness … that listens and gracefully leads
Pause…..
Aren’t you the force that transforms… yet persists
…in the seed, in the Sun… and in all that exists?!
Aren’t you the genesis for hope, meaning and good sense
The Master that instructs… to listen, to be… to use some silence
Pause…would you grace me… as the ability of my healer ….
As I linger before fading.. into northern thin air?!
Will I then become you, Oh Pause…. at the end of my life…
And sail through the bardos to another simple life?
About the poet:
Dr Nandini Vallath is a Professor and Head: Department of Pain and Palliative Medicine, St. Johns National Academy of Health Sciences, Bengaluru.
To read poems from the entire collection, please click here.
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