From the Poet PM -Governance Now

From the Poet PM

Two poems by Narendra Modi

GN Bureau | March 21, 2017

#Prime Minister Modi #PM Modi #Narendra Modi Poems #NaMo #Verses #Poems #Narendra Modi #World Poetry Day

PM Narendra Modi

Like Atal Behari Vajpayee before him, prime minister Narendra Modi is a poet. He has written quite a few poems in Gujarati. On the occasion of World Poetry Day (March 21), Governance Now presents two short poems by the prime minister that reveal another side of his personality. They are excerpted from 'A Journey: Poems by Narendra Modi', translated from Gujarati by Ravi Mantha, and published by Rupa.

Verb

I am a man of action

Even when I write,

I draw a circle of words

And then I make the circle a square.

In that circle which is now a square

I place words, colourful, smooth as marbles

These words of glass

Are words of truth -- like tears

They form a period at the end of a sentence.

Near lie the adjectives, within the confines of a

Lakshman Rekha

They keep the piety of Ram

Adjacent to them the nouns keep playing

A game of tic-tac-toe.

I keep the verb in the centre,

And then I draw one endless circle, resolute.

Liar's Praise

If you call water stone

Or stone you say is water

You claim the cloud, a fold in the sky

You call a lotus babul

Makes no difference to any but you.

You can call rumour truth

And claim that day is night

You can call spring autumn

Slander the ocean, call it a desert

You can even call life, death.

This, your adultery of speech

You are welcome to its treats.

Nature is there to bear silent witness

Calm, detached and composed.

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