A WORLDLY HOPE

I am the only son of my parents. I grew up in luxury as my dad owned an apple orchard and my mom had extensive properties which have all come to me. I had got my doctorate in English literature before starting on a teaching career at a university. I chose Alice, a good looking woman, to be my wife. She is a neurosurgeon working in a well-known multispecialty hospital.

One Sunday morning I was seated facing my garden which was well maintained. Alice said “Shall I serve breakfast where you are?”

“I would like it.”

She brought a tray of my favourite breakfast dishes and after serving me joined me with her breakfast.

She said “Shall we finish eating quickly? I’m likely to be summoned to the hospital to attend to the son of VIP.”

I nodded. As I bit the cheese loadedtoast I said “Ally the garden looks good. The flowers are  blooming.”

“Quite true. That horticulturist lady consultant has introduced new plants and is keeping the gardeners fully occupied.”

She checked her watch and said “Let me get the coffee.”

“Need any help?”

“No. You keep sitting here.”

It was a few minutes before she came with the coffee. She said “I got a call from the hospital. The VIP will come only tomorrow with his son. It will be a restful Sunday for me,”

“Good.” I sipped the coffee and said “Tastes nice.”

“I’ve used the coffee powder of another make. I think I’ll use it regularly hereafter.”

I finished the coffee and said “Ally, I would like to be known as a poet.”

She said “I understand. But on what would you compose your poetry?”

“That is where the Muses come in to help. They are the goddesses of various subjects. Calliope is of eloquence and heroic poetry. Erato is of erotic poetry. But Polyhymnia appeals to me. She is of sacred poetry. I am thinking of writing verses addressed to God and devotion to God.”

She laughed and said “While you’ve written prose you haven’t composed any poetry. Not even limericks or doggerels.”

“You’ve forgotten the fact that my sonnet was published in the university’s magazine.”

“But that was almost two years ago. And you spent nearly three months making so many drafts and referring the thesaurus and seeking synonyms and antonyms from the computer.”

“Who said it is easy to write poetry? It is hard work. “

“But famous poets in the past had no dictionaries or computers to use. It was divine prompting in their cases.”

“It will come to me too once I start.” I paused and said “I remember so many verses. Let me quote one of them: The worldly hope that men set tḥeir hearts upon/Turns ashes or it prospers/And  anon! like snow upon a desert’s dusty face/Lighting up a little hour or two is gone. “

She laughed and said “That is Omar Khayyam. It is easily remembered due to easy rhyming.”

“I must remind you about the reward I received from the New Poetry Academy.”

“That was minor. You wrote a 3 line haiku……”

“But remember that I wrote 3 haikus.”

“That was over a year ago. And if I remember right those didn’t rhyme.”

“Look! Haikus in English only convey the sentiment. Rhyming isn’t possible. I’m determined to do better. I’ll write poetry about saints first.”

Alice was silent. I said ”I must have plenty of time to work seriously on poetry. Since we’ve enough money to live on, I’ll resign my university job to concentrate on poetry.”

Alice said “I think you’ll find it difficult to spend so much time at home. You must rethink.”

“My mind is made up. I have already  thought up a few lines. I’ve only to develop the ideas there.”

Alice thought a while and said “I suggest that instead of resigning you take some leave and practice writing poetry.”

“It isn’t required but I’ll consider it.”

Alice asked “Have you considered about printing your poetry?”

“Good poetry will always be welcomed by publishers.”

She could see I was adamant about my ability to write verse and cḥanged her line of advice. She said “If I were you, I would ask some critic to appraise the work before approaching the printer.”

“I’ll think it over.” I was a bit thoughtful as I said “I haven’t so far taken extended leave from work. I had kept it for taking you out on a vacation but now I’ll take it to write.”

I did take long leave and got busy composing poetry. After three weeks I said “Ally, I’ve completed 50 pages of my work which I’ve titled INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY. Why don’t you go through my work?”

She said “Sure. But it’ll take time as I can only read when I’m free.”

A fortnight later I said “Ally I’ve completed another 20 pages. That book is complete. After I hear your comments I’ll approach Professor Jane, basically a book reviewer, to hear her views.”

A week later Alice said “I’ve gone through your work. I didn’t understand why you’ve chosen that title.”

“It is an esoteric work and to highlight it I’ve chosen that title.”

She said “I found you’ve extensively skipped rhyming. I sometimes felt like I was reading prose.”

I brought out a book from the shelf and said ”This is tḥe work of an award winning African poet. Not only has she used prose but let me read this line: ‘When people’s ill they come to I.’  It means when people are ill they come to me. It has been done for rhyming. I won’t do that,”

“I don’t know anything about poetry. I merely expressed whatever struck me.”

He said “I’ll next approach Sarah Drake who is a poet to give her opinion.”

Sarah after a week said “I’ve read through INTIMATIONS. You’ve lofty ideas no doubt but they don’t seem to fit the poetry medium. You’ve skipped rhyming a lot. Re-revise the work in the light of its being poetry.”

I showed the comment to Alice and said “I’ll seek the opinion of the publisher Martial.”

She said “That is only his nickname. He is said to be brutal in his comments.”

“He can’t be in my case as I’m a well-read professor. Let us see.”

I gave INTIMATIONS to Martial requesting his views on publishing the work. Even after a month there was no reaction from Martial. I reminded Martial and after 3 weeks received the following response: On the basis of the work you will be consigned to that hell where poets are doomed to hear each other’s verses for eternity! Thanks for approaching me.

I gave up my move to become a noted poet and went back to teaching at the university. It was much to the satisfaction of Alice!

END