G. K. Chesterton and Theodore Tilton

Popular errors are nearly always right. - G. K. Chesterton

தவறுகள் எப்படி வருகின்றது. மனித நேயத்துக்குப் புறம்பாக, போலியாக, சுயநலமாக, பசப்பாகவும் நடந்துகொள்வதால்தான் தகுதிகளும் மறுக்கப்படுகின்றன. உண்மைகள் உறங்குகின்றன. நியாயங்கள் நிராயுதபாணியாக நிற்கின்றது. இதுவும் கடந்து உண்மையும் அறமும் வெற்றிபெறும் ஒரு நாள்.

"Even This Shall Pass Away"

Once in Persia reigned a king,

Who upon his signet ring

Graved a maxim true and wise,

Which, if held before his eyes,

Gave him counsel at a glance

Fit for every change and chance.

Solemn words, and these are they,

"Even this shall pass away."

Trains of camels through the sand

Brought him gems from Samarcand;

Fleets of galleys through the seas

Brought him pearls to match with these;

But he counted not his gain

Treasures of the mine or main;

"What is wealth?" the king would say;

"Even this shall pass away."

'Mid the revels of his court,

At the zenith of his sport,

When the palms of all his guests

Burned with clapping at his jests,

He, amid his figs and wine,

Cried, "O loving friends of mine;

Pleasures come, but not to stay,

'Even this shall pass away."

Lady, fairest ever seen,

Was the bride he crowned his queen.

Pillowed on his marriage bed,

Softly to his soul he said:

"Though no bridegroom ever pressed

Fairer bosom to his breast,

Mortal flesh must come to clay

Even this shall pass away."

Fighting on a furious field,

Once a javelin pierced his shield;

Soldiers, with a loud lament,

Bore him bleeding to his tent.

Groaning from his tortured side,

"Pain is hard to bear," he cried;

"But with patience, day by day,

Even this shall pass away."

Towering in the public square,

Twenty cubits in the air,

Rose his statue, carved in stone.

Then the king, disguised, unknown,

Stood before his sculptured name,

Musing meekly: "What is fame?

Fame is but a slow decay,

Even this shall pass away."

Struck with palsy, sore and old,

Waiting at the Gates of Gold,

Said he with his dying breath,

"Life is done, but what is Death?"

Then, in answer to the king,

Fell a sunbeam on his ring,

Showing by a heavenly ray,

"Even this shall pass away."

- Theodore Tilton

-கே.எஸ்.இராதாகிருஷ்ணன்.

19-11-2015

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