SHADOWS AND SUBSTANCE! <br /> <br />During the early years of my school days, <br />I was taught to clearly differentiate always, <br />Between shadows and substance and the <br />source of light! <br />About the sun which with its intrinsic light, <br />Shining in the heavens and burning bright! <br />Shadows too have two different parts, - <br />A central cone of darkness and a shadowy <br />part, <br />Called the umbra and penumbra, which I had <br />learnt by heart! <br />And I also recall enjoying a silhouette show, <br />Where many dancing figures did come and go, <br />But that was many, many years ago! <br /> <br />When I read J. Shirley’s poem ‘Death the Leveler’ <br />with its haunting rhyme, - <br />I felt like a puppet in the hands of time! <br />But it did impress my sensitive mind! <br />The poet in his opening paragraph goes to state, - <br />“The glories of our blood and state, <br /> Are shadows and not substantial things, <br /> There is no armour against fate, <br /> Death lays its icy hands on kings! ” <br /> ……………………………………. <br />Now in the Autumn years of my life, <br />When shadows lengthen and becomes tall; <br />Like the lunar eclipse when earth’s shadow <br />engulfs the moon, <br />My substantial frame begins to dissolves into <br />shadowy forms! <br />It is then when my old lessons get unlearned, <br />And I can barely discern when shadows and <br />substance begin to merge! <br />And my life becomes a fairy tale of dreams, <br />Like the existence of an insubstantial being! <br /> <br /> -Raj Nandy <br /> 11 Jun 09 <br /> New Delhi <br />(I have tried to blend the elementary facts of Physics with <br />Philosophy & Spirituality, inspired by Fritjof Capra’s book – <br />“The Tao Of Physics”!)<br /><br />RAJ NANDY<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/shadows-and-substance/
