Nature in the Poems of Chandramoni Narayanaswamy by P. V. LAXMI PRASAD

Nature in the Poems of Chandramoni Narayanaswamy by P. V. LAXMI PRASAD

Born in 1938, Chandramoni Narayanaswamy hails from a family of Tamils settled in Kerala. A member of the Indian Administrative Service of 1963, she had a distinguished career both in Orissa and the Government of India before taking a voluntary retirement from the IAS in 1994. Chandramoni has published two poetry collections as on today i.e., (i) The Unseen Abode and Other poems (ii) Sunflower and other Nature Poems. While Sunflower and Other Nature Poems is a collection exclusively devoted to Nature, The Unseen Abode and other poems carry a few poems on Nature. Chandramoni for whom nature has been a companion in a lovely childhood wrote descriptive poems about nature as a child. Now streaks of mysticism and symbolism dominate these poems written in a ripe old age.

Chandramoni Narayanaswamy’s collection of poems has the appeal and zeal to take the readers on a ride onto the depth of nature and enjoy the charm and beauty that overwhelm every emotion and passion and provide an atmosphere serene and beautiful, charming and colourful. In this fast-moving world of science and technology, man has no time to wait and see” nature’s abundant beauty and a collection of poems on nature (Sunflower and other Nature Poems) is itself a tribute to the mother earth. Poetry speaks of beauty and beauty is truth but when the truth that lies beneath beauty is portrayed prominently, it becomes poetry with mission and poetry with implication. (Mukherjee 42)

Chandamoni’s second collection of poems Sunflower and other Nature poems contains a richly glorified twenty-five wonderful nature poems. The fact that she calls her collection “a bouquet of green leaves,” reveals the poet’s deep love and intense fascination for mother nature. In the words of Chandramoni from her preface to the collection, “Nature had always been a book to me, sometimes a picture book to be gazed at in sheer pleasure; at other times as the mood turned pensive or thoughtful, a book of philosophy to comprehend which a century is not enough.” As a child, the poet observed: “To the silence of a lonely child the pages responded with strange similes, metaphors and fantasiesthe first stirrings of poetry in my mind. At sunset, it was Kaleidoscope displaying changing colours.” Nature to Chandramoni was so influential that no book of reading gave her the same thrill just when she watched a rainy monsoon of hiding clouds. “No book gave me the same thrill as sky-gazing in monsoon with the moon, and the stars buried under the clouds.” The beauties of Nature are presented in the hidden vistas of the life grass seeds which the poet describes “tiny receptacles of life” buried under the sand sleep “like hibernating polar bears” and the seeds may possibly perish if summer continues for long time.

Buried deep under the burning sand

by heedless feet marching above

They sleep, these tiny receptacles of life

Like hibernating polar bears

Perchance to perish and mingle with sand

If summer lasts and rain betrays.

(Chandramoni, Sunflower and other Nature Poems 2).

The poet feels that if rain comes and seeps into the thirsty earth, the seeds sprout and spread “a green carpet on the plane.” “The poet presents the theme of love and forgiveness through apt comparison and appropriate imagery” (Joseph 18).

But if the blessed rain does pour

And seep into the thirsty earth

They sprout with astounding speed

Spreading a green carpet on the plane

(Chandramoni, Sunflower and other Nature Poems 2).

The green earth turns into a majestic carpet of grand welcome on the arrival of rain. It is a beautiful comparison in heightened expression. The poet presents the mysteries of Nature in the poem titled “The Laughing waterfall” where the waters in the waterfall appear deceptive in laughing, dancing and sparkling like crystals. They are originally described as “the hot spring of hidden tears ‘caused by ‘the sorrow buried in the patient’s earth.” The title in the words of John Peter Joseph who reviewed “Sunflower and other Nature Poems” is itself a metaphor indicating deceptive appearance. The hidden tears remain invisible to the seeing eyes.

The hot salty tears are not tasted

Hence not known to any

Only the laughing waters are seen

Clear, bright and up lighting.

(Chandramoni, Sunflower and other Nature Poems 3)

The poet presents the law of nature in the creation of pebbles in the river waters. Pebbles are lovely to play with. The imagery is striking and eye-catching in the lines.

The river leaps from the heights

Its waters sweet and translucent

Crystal clear in sparkling purity

Brings down along with it

Sharp broken black stones

Repugnant to Sight, deadly to touch

Rushing through uneven valleys

It flows quietly on level ground

Gathering all the dirt on the way

The water no longer clear or clean

But replete with poisonous pollution

The stone carried by it

Softened and rounded off

Are smooth and pearly white

Pebbles one loves to play with

(Chandramoni, Sunflower and other Nature Poems 4)

The spontaneity of expression flows through versatility of theme and the rhythm is effective and instant. With deep penetration, the poet presents the eternal truths of Nature in the poem “The Inextinguishable Light” which is full of hope and optimism.

However deep the fearsome darkness

And however black the endless night

Nothing in nature can ever shut out

The advent of the inextinguishable light

An atom of which He bestowed on me.

(Chandramoni, Sunflower and other Nature Poems 4)

The light of nature is original, imperishable and invulnerable. The wholesome capacity of nature is imposing and unyielding. The devastating capacity of nature is beyond anticipation and comprehension.

All at once the electric poles

Had fallen like nine pins

And the wires snapped like threads

In the fury of the great cyclone

No candle or wicker lamp

The match-box is soaked with water

All around is total black-out     

(Chandramoni, Sunflower and other Nature Poems 4)

“The Black and the Bitter” is a poem of Nature’s great lesson for mankind while the black represents the black crow, the bitter for the neem tree which tastes bitter and benign. Here, the poet takes the readers into a lesson of universal preaching that Nature ever beholds for man to learn from. Man fails to realize the lessons of Nature.

But the black ungracious crow

Unwanted and shunned by all

Is drawn to the neem

And undaunted by their bitterness

Swallows all the ripe berries

Scatters the seeds far and wide

Causing the bitter progeny

To increase year after year.

(Chandramoni, Sunflower and other Nature Poems 9)

The poet writes that the neem tree is created to serve and cure men of ailments. The neem fruits and seeds are used in Ayurvedic form of medicine.

The tree created to serve

And cure men of their ailments

Minds not their indifference

Nor indeed their gratitude

It knows its mission well

So it blooms and multiplies       

(Chandramoni, Sunflower and other Nature Poems 9)

Nature creates wonders for the world to enjoy. The cactus is a plant that grows in hot dry regions especially one with thick stems but without leaves. The plant is medicinally useful and it is Nature’s wondrous product. It is described as a plant of hope for the suffering world of lovers.

I am then the stay and anchor

Of a bleeding heart, hungry for love

I wean the mind back from despair

With the remembrance of what I stand for.       

(Chandramoni, Sunflower and other Nature Poems 11)

“The cosmic conch” is a poem of Nature’s absolute mystery. Chandramoni describes the cosmic conch as having betrayed the patient earth just when it was thirsting for monsoon.

Heralding the long-awaited monsoon

All wait in grateful expectation

But alas! A shower of hail

Then a sprinkle of rain

Is all that falls to the ground

Once more the cosmic conch for cruel fun

Has belied, betrayed and let down

The patient earth thirsting for monsoon.

(Chandramoni, Sunflower and other Nature Poems 12)

Nature imposes a sense of duty, discipline and orderliness on all living-beings. In the poem, “The Time-Keeper”, the poet traces how the crow wakes up the world despite insults and curses. It is the symbol of duty and punctuality.

Unfailing time-keeper of dawn

Alert alike in shine and rain

Repulsive to the human eye

Most unpleasing to the ear

Hated for the clarion-call

But hated most for punctuality

(Chandramoni, Sunflower and other Nature Poems 13)

The crow is cursed, hated and condemned by the world. Yet, it is unmindful and spirited

Thus hated and condemned by all

Yet undaunted, the irrepressible time keeper

Goes on sounding his clarion call

Sharper, louder and clearer

Same message, same refrain-“wake up”

All you shirkers, the time is up.

(Chandramoni, Sunflower and other Nature Poems 14)

A fine juxtaposition of ideas run through the poem “The Leaf and the Thorn.” Like a thorn that settles on the leaf of a tree, the villainy holds on to the virtuous. The poem abounds in an ultimate reality that the virtuous will win over the vicious. The wicked and the jealous will be finally punished.

Whether the thorn falls on the leaf

Or the leaf falls on the thorn

It is the leaf that is hurt and torn

That is the price paid for piety.

Yet there is hope, the vicious thorn

Hated by all and touched only by the broom

Is swept away and thrown to rot

With all that is the scum of the earth.

(Chandramoni, Sunflower and other Nature Poems 18)

Nature always inspires poets and this inspiration leads Chandramoni to beautify the origin of lotus. It is recalled that the beautiful lotus awakes in muddy ponds. It has an origin of purity out of impurities. The very sight of the flower moves the poet conceive some colourful images centering on its existence.

Conceived and born in mud and marsh

She blooms and rises high above them all

The sun smiles and shines on her

Butterflies hover and dance around her

Wasps flock to her from dawn

And prefer to die with her very sight

Weave colourful imageries centering on her

Lovers see in her the eyes they love.

(Chandramoni, Sunflower and other Nature Poems 21)

As a poetess with deep moral sense, she deals with yet another aspect of modern man’s existence. The conscience of the contemporary world is stifled by the guilt of destruction of the environment for selfish aggrandizement. The society is paying a heavy price for the exploitation of ‘Nature’ by man with his limitless desire for power and wealth. The poet pitifully asks the earth to explain why it punishes the innocent for the crimes they did not commit. The poet holds man entirely responsible for cutting down the trees. The earth’s patience is what the poet calls “proverbial.”

Have you no eyes to see

Or heart to pity

That you punish

And destroy the innocent

For crimes they did not commit?

Man sinned against you

He burnt and cut down your forests

Silted and drained your rivers

Denuded you of your green cover

You suffered and forgave it all

For your patience is proverbial

(Chandramoni, Sunflower and other Nature Poems 22)

Nature stands as a symbol of resoluteness, indomitable will power, and impeccable force. This is described in the poem “The Sturdy Palm” where the poet finds a coconut palm of her neighbor “battering, bending and tearing its folds despite many a storm attacked it.

But when nature’s fury had abated

And I could again view the world without

The sturdy palm was where it used to be

Battered and almost bald but still upright

A silent mockery of all adversity

A living challenge to the arrogant.

(Chandramoni, Sunflower and other Nature Poems 26)

“The Evergreen Tree” speaks largely of seasonal growth, of leaves, foliage, branches, flowers and fruits and its blessed greenness that never fades. Nature is ever-green in this poem.

It is my mission to protect and care

I am born to give whatever I have

I care not if I am spurned later

For He has given me what none can have

The blessed greenness that never fades.

(Chandramoni, Sunflower and other Nature Poems 30)

Nature punishes those who destroy wild life for their personal gains and selfish ends. Such people meet their doom. “Fate and Bait” is an ironical poem to bring out man’s crime against wild life. Those hunters who tied an innocent goat to sight the tiger eventually fell into its trap. They lost their lives. The goat is saved in the end.

Inside the tree trunk above the root

Was housed a colony of termites

Which had eaten the wood within

The whirlwind snapped the hollow trunk

Down fell the tree in a trice

With the machan and the men in it.

The tiger grabbed him and vanished

Into the darkness of the forest

So did the goat now set free

By nature’s unexpected caprice

As ordained by Him who sees it all

Termites had triumphed over man.

(Chandramoni, Sunflower and other Nature Poems 32)

“The Garden Queen” is a wonderful Nature poem which describes how flowers in a garden compete with one another to become the queen of the garden in spring. In the comments of St. John Peter Joseph, “Flowers like Dhalia, Kalimpong, Gladiolus and chrysanthemum boasted, argued, and challenged one another even before the arrival of the judge. Finding no honey and sweet fragrance they went away from such flowers. Then they noticed in the corner of the garden a small silent red rose. They were pleased with its fragrance, smell and honey. The Judge, the green parrot, finally came and perched on the rose, smelt the fragrance, felt the softness, tasted the honey and then gave its judgment.” (John Peter Joseph 18) It is a poem of heightened imagination.

None but the Rose He has endowed

With beauty, scent and modesty

Is fit to be the Garden Queen.

(Chandramoni, Sunflower and other Nature Poems 37)

Chandramoni is intensely a Nature lover and her passion for Nature gets her to see the roaring sky. It is Nature’s curse and revenge dreaded by all.

This furious down-pour

From the roaring sky in sudden

Fits and starts is not monsoon

But a season not yet known and defined.

(Chandramoni, “The Unseen Abode and other Poems 68)     

Nature is mysterious and her mystery is both nourishing and destroying. In a superb experimentation of writing, the poet dwells at length in her thoughts upon the subject of inanimate object which has been personified to speak about themselves and for themselves so that their assertions and affirmations are effectively emphasized.

I am the embodiment of tolerance

And unfathomable indulgence

My heart is brimming with motherly love

For all the species I brought into this world

I shower my blessings in lightly rain

To quench their thirst and wash away

All the dust and grime from their faces

And make them look green and beautiful.

(Chandramoni, The Unseen Abode and other Poems 69)

The poet’s intense love of nature can be seen in the poem “Monsoon” wherein she eagerly awaits the arrival of monsoon. The poet says that she cannot live without monsoon because she is a farmer of India. It is a representative poem.

I am ever in love with you

And await your arrival

Counting days, hours, even minutes

Scanning the sky with unblinking eyes

For the portals of heaven to open

And let you out.

(Chandramoni, The Unseen Abode and other Poems 71)

A nature-conscious Chandramoni vividly describes spring in many-sided personality.

There is fragrance in the air

Warmth in the atmosphere

Music in the rustling of leaves

And a caress in the breeze

Soothing yet exciting.

There is intoxication for the young

Comfort for the old

And pleasure for all.

Spring is nature’s adolescence

It is way ward and endearing

Now smiling, now threatening

Tearful this minute

Chirpy with laughter, the very next.

When every creeper, plant and tree

And even the lowly grass

Burst into bloom

It is a riot of colours

And in gay abandon

Nature plays Holi

All by herself and all creatures rejoice

In the very gift of life.

(Chandramoni, The Unseen Abode and other Poems 72-73)

To conclude the paper, I reckon that Nature occupies the centre-stage of writing in Chandramoni’s poetry collections. Like Wordsworth, she worships, glorifies, mystifies, philosophizes, intellectualizes and moralizes Nature in the harsh realities of world. She has moved close to the soul of Nature, and has established a deep affinity with Nature. She has explicitly and implicitly transmuted the invisible into the visible, the unfamiliar into the familiar and the hidden into the unhidden. She has attributed human sensibilities to the objects of Nature. She has used concrete imagery so as to infuse a kind of passion for Nature. The poems of the collection are imbued with the colour of mysticism and symbolism apart from striking imagery. The mysteries of Nature are unraveled in a pictorial, lively and narrative mode of writing. All these unfold the poet’s immense love and fascination for Nature. Her poetry remains inseparable with Nature.

Works Cited

1. Joseph, Peter John. Rev. of Sunflower and Other Nature Poems. IBC (2008): 18. Print.
2. Mukherjee, Subha. Rev. of Sunflower and Other Nature Poems. Contemporary Vibes 3.9 (2009): 42. Print.
3. Narayanaswamy, Chandramoni. The Unseen Abode and Other Poems. New Delhi: Har-Anand Publications Pvt. Ltd., 2003. Print.
4. ---. Sunflower and Other Nature Poems. Bhubaneshwar, India: The Home of Letters, 2006. Print.

Dr. Laxmi Prasad P.V., Ph.D. in English, is a widely published author with 33 national and international journals and 250 publications to his credit. His published articles include poems, articles, book reviews, translations and Interviews. He has won International Award for Excellence in English Poetry.

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