Time Zones
I willed my love to dream of me last night, that we might lie
at peace, if not beneath a single sheet, under one sky.
I dreamed of her but she could not alas humour my will;
it struck me suddenly that where she was was daylight still.
-Vikram Seth
Thanks M for one of the best forwards ever. :)
8 comments:
Damn good!
Among the many people that I want to start reading very soon, Vikram Seth features in the top. Have you heard of "The Golden Gate"? It's a damn masterpiece.
I had no idea what a brilliant poet he was. Don't you think all his poems are just so full of pain? My guess is he spent his entire life in love with someone who didn't love him back but whom he was good friends with and he wrote to handle the cost of that. You gotta love him!
@ Megha: So true. It was like smtg I mentioned to S yesterday: he manages to weave humour, pain, satire, and this feeling of helplessness into the same fabric. And yes, you gotta love him!
@Sudeep: Do you want the entire forward? :)
It is beautiful. :) I'd like the whole forward, yes.
Megha's description, especially, strikes a chord with me. Never read Seth, but I might like him. :D
@ Beak, Megha:
The captivating power (and pain) in his writings might equally well have come out of his bisexuality. Here is one from his wiki page:
Some men like Jack and some like Jill
I'm glad I like them both but still
I wonder if this freewheeling
Really is an enlightened thing,
Or is its greater scope a sign
Of deviance from some party line?
In the strict ranks of Gay and Straight
What is my status: Stray? Or Great?
Just insanely brilliant!
@Sudeep: I don't agree at all. I don;t think he was caused any significant sorrow or loss because of his bisexuality. His parents accepted him as he was and he so did the society he lived in. (Read: not India). His poems speak of loss of love: regardless of the object of his love.
@Beaky:
I didn't mean the trouble was out of non-acceptance of his bisexuality! Lol! I was saying he might have ended up not knowing what (or who!) he really wanted - torn between two or more people (of possibly different sexes). Does that also sound outlandish?
@Sudeep: Sorry about the late reply. But the problem you mentioned, that can happen even if you are straight! :) And no, somehow, I don't see conflict of identity in his poems.
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