Images: details from the painting, "Mai Bhago", by Kanwar Singh [ArtofPunjab.com].
Poetry
The Beauty of the Punjaban
SARBPREET SINGH
The following poem was inspired as a response to Pran Nevile's "The Punjaban in History", an article published earlier on sikhchic.com.
Lust filled eyes of a thousand despots
Saccharin songs of their captive birds
Libidinous yearnings of wordsmiths grey
Their cloying, inane and empty words
They damn you with their feeble praise
Spouting paeans to your ‘pretty’ face
They know not the iron in your soul
They know not of your spine of steel
They know not of the spirit that soars
That has not will not ever kneel
Yes You, who did give birth to Kings
Yes You, who swung the mighty sword
You, who smiled; refused to weep
No matter what you had to endure
Their empty words; their vapid praise
Their lewd, lascivious, rapine gaze
It will not; cannot gauge your worth
Pens will run dry; fingers will cramp
Until at last, there are no more odes
To know the essence of your beauty divine
They must walk for aeons in your shoes
October 10, 2013
Conversation about this article
1: Harjap Singh Aujla (Monmouth Junction, New Jersey, USA), October 10, 2013, 11:58 AM.
What a great and elating piece of poetry. Thanks, Sarbpreet Singh. Well done, keep it up. The Guru's blessings are with you.
2: Sullivan the Poet (Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA), October 10, 2013, 12:56 PM.
An outstanding piece of poetry ...
3: Kulbir Sandhu (Santa Rosa, California, USA), October 10, 2013, 7:44 PM.
Well said, Sarbpreet. My mother was one such Punjaban. It reads like an ode to her. Thank you!
4: Sarbpreet Singh (Boston, Massachusetts, USA), October 10, 2013, 9:00 PM.
What a lovely comment, Kulbir! I wish I had known your mother! Perhaps there's more than a bit of her in you? :-)
5: Vijay Bajwa (Morganville, New Jersey, USA), October 12, 2013, 8:40 PM.
Sarbpreet! You took a deep dive there - it captures the complexity of the Punjaban. Is this yours? Wow! But then, we expect no less from you.
6: Sarbpreet Singh (Boston, Massachusetts, USA), October 12, 2013, 9:48 PM.
It is, Vijay! :-) Good to hear from you after all these years.