5 things for this week (Part 26)

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep."

- Robert Frost in "Stopping by Woods"

Even though I first came across these lines years ago, and even though I had been told many times about its obvious significance, I've always failed to see anything in it, beyond the simple, yet elegant rhyming composition.

It is said that you find the meaning of words, when  you can relate to them with the experiences you've had in your life. A simple example would be that of a teenager finding a romantic song a bit more gripping and persuasive, when he is on the throes of love. Another example would be that of the same teenager finding a sad song soothing on having seen his fledgling crush, get crushed by reality.

And so, as I grew with time, I find myself enjoying these words of Mr.Frost. They feel a lot more poignant - for I have now found my own 'woods', my own 'promises', my own 'miles to go' and my own 'sleep', all parallel to those that the poet has described.

For me, the woods manifests itself as the world, with all its distracting activities and assurances of a good time;
my promise is the promise I've made to myself to keep posting here about 5 things every week;
my miles to go is the effort I've to put in to keep that promise;
and my sleep is... well... err...  actually, my sleep is literally my sleep. That part wasn't that hard to figure out.

The whole wide world is laid exposed to my will, or at least I'm made to believe so. It is lovely, deep and dark. But if I spend myself in that world, squandering my time away, I can't fulfill my promise - my promise to write something every week. And so, I take the effort to extract myself from the woods and get down to writing. This act of "prose-ing" is my journey, and I sleep after I've made sure that I've fulfilled my promise.

As a part of this week's "5 things", we'll be looking at some poems that I've found to be just fancy words at first, and then later discovered the cryptic message in them. Shall we begin then??

Please do click the links given to read the poems in its full constitution.

Have you read...

1. ... "where the mind is without fear" by Rabindranath Tagore?

"Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high,

Where knowledge is free,

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments,...

..Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake"

This dream of a patriot is still unfulfilled to this day.

2. ... "If" by Rudyard Kipling?

"IF you can keep your head when all about you 

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

IF you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;..."

Those four lines are inspiring and instructing in equal measure. He asks you to do what you think is right, even if the whole world says its wrong; but he warns that you should keep asking yourself if they are right in saying you are wrong.

3. ..."If you forget me" by Pablo Neruda?

"If suddenly 

you forget me 

do not look for me, 

for I shall already have forgotten you..."

Even though this might seem more like an attempt to intimidate your lover, the way this poem unravels itself is a sight to behold. But when he ends the poem with

"...my love feeds on your love, beloved, 

and as long as you live it will be in your arms 

without leaving mine."

you can't help wishing to be able to say this to someone.

4. ... "Still I rise" by Maya Angelou?

"...Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise." 

5. ... "The road not taken" by Robert Frost?

"...I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference. "

***


This is the 26th post in this series. 26. My favorite number. In case you are wondering why, I was born on a 26th, and it has always been special to me. Numerology states that the number 8 (the sum of individual numbers of 26) is significant in my life. It also says that it is kind of the worst number to have, as it shows a switching tendency to go back and forth between good and bad luck.

I've found that to be true in my life. My birth (26), my bike's number(7064), the day I got my job(26) all have been 8. So has also been the day I tore my ankle ligaments (26).

That last thing was painful, more mentally than physically. Before that, I looked forward to the weekend, for having a game of football, no matter how amateur or inconsequential. But on the 26th of October, 2012, I lost that. My soft right ankle forces me from taking part in dynamic sports activities. And I lost football as a sport from my life thence forward.

From the beginning of this year, I was in need of a passion, I was in need of a spark - something to look forward to every week. Thus, after much persuasion, was born this series - to be my spark, to grow and become this fire within me. And today marks the six month anniversary of this series.

I know its not much, but to me it is. And you have played a very important part in making me grow, in making this blog grow - by reading it, by commenting on it, by suggesting improvements and topics, by complimenting it, by following it, by tweeting about it, by sharing it on Facebook, etc etc.

I would like to misuse this moment to THANK YOU, one and all.

See you soon.
Have a great weekend!!