In another life

POEM :

“IN ANOTHER LIFE…”

“Ships that pass in the night and speak each other in passing,

Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness;

So, on the ocean of life, we pass and speak one another,

Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.”

                                                --H. W. Longfellow (1817-1882)

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“But pleasures are like poppies spread ---

You seize the flower, the bloom is shed;

Or like snow falls in the river ---

A moment white, then melts forever.”

                                                --Robert Burns (1749-1796)

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 1^st stanza

Be not enough one lifetime :

So much to do, so much to cope with :

Crossing paths, meetings souls :

One moment chang’d all.

 2^nd

For life goes on, relentlessly,

Dragging us along,

Even from paths destin’d for us :

Heart-wrenching thoughts…

 3^rd

A life liv’d in solitude :

Among many, still in solitude :

For the soul’s wish be unmet :

Searching across a vast net,

And not finding the destination.
 4^th

Dialogues across vast spaces,

Unspoken words, unseen looks :

Each dragging the life along,

Searches made without success…

 5^th

The bloom appear’d once

And then disappear’d :

Fruitless searches across a wide net :

A deity ruling the mind,

Intelligent and wise,

Finding the right fleeting words

In a brief message dropp’d in a net :

One life be not enough…

 6^th

Perhaps there be victory

Inscrib’d a secret wording,

But the search is tiring,

With suff’ring along the way.

 7^th

The souls be speaking to each other,

But unseen, unheard.

“There is life that we can’t live,

Before we do, death overtakes us.

There are flowers that don’t bloom,

Before they do, winter overtakes them…” (*)

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Soman Ragavan

Mauritius

29 April, 2026

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(*) From the song “Zindagi ka Safar” in the film “SAFAR,” 1970, sung by Kishore Kumar.

Directed by Asit Sen; screenplay by Asit Sen; story by Ashutosh Mukherjee; based on “Chalachal” 1956; produced by Mushir-Riaz; starring Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore; cinematography : Kamal Bose; edited by Tarun Datta; music by Kalyanji-Anandji; lyrics by Indeevar; released on 1 October, 1970.

Full acknowledgements are made to all the rights-holders.

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