Because, one night, my soul reached out / Govinda Krishna Chettur

III

Because, one night, my soul reached out and found
Yours, in the dim and visionary maze
Of dreams, and Love upon the starry ways:
Because, when, with heart bleeding and eyes bound,
I stumbled to your feet, you raised and crowned
My sorrowing with tears and tender praise:
Because, sometimes men dream of perfect days,
With Death's encircling arms about them wound:
Because of this, because of all of this,
Am I for ever dreaming of sweet hours,
As flowers dream anight of the wind's kiss:
For ever fashioning to Love's demands
This passionate joy, this wonder that is ours,
I that have yearned for the least touch of your hands.

~~
Govinda Krishna Chettur (1898-1936)
from The Triumph of Love: A sonnet sequence, 1932

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada and the European Union]

Govinda Krishna Chettur biography
Valentine's Day on The Penny Blog

Beloved / Govinda Krishna Chettur

Beloved

You are the Rose of me,

In you have I lost myself utterly,

Your fragrance, as a breath from Paradise,

About me ever lies;

I crush you to my heart with subtlest ecstasy

And on your lips I live, and in your passionate eyes.

You are the Dream of me,

My visions many-footed flit and flee

Beneath the jewelled arches of Life's grace:

But through lone nights and days,

One form I follow, and mine eyes but see

The dear delightful wonder of your love-lit face.

You are the Greatness of me,

My thoughts are Beauty shaped exquisitely

To the rare pattern of your loveliness

Exceeding all excess:

And the strange magic of this mystery,

Steals weight from burdened hours, and woe from weariness.

~~

Govinda Krishna Chettur (1898-1936)

from Sounds and Images, 1921

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada, the United States, and the European Union]

Govinda Krishna Chettur biography
Valentine's Day on The Penny Blog

Rejoice this Day / Govinda Krishna Chettur

XVIII

Rejoice this day, for this day love is near,
And sunlight gleaming slantwise on the grass,
And hope and beauty of all things that pass
Yet come again with the returning year:
They may not die, these things that once were ours;
And love, not less, that liveth in the mind:
Therefore all ills forget, all griefs that bind,
And all unwisdom of unhappy hours:
Remembering only the great gift of bliss
Love brought to us one shining summer morn,
When on my lips you placed that shy sweet kiss:
Wherefore we sing all time with passionate praise,
Despite of pity, pain and tears forlorn,
This loveliness and glory of our days.

~~
Govinda Krishna Chettur (1898-1936)
from The Triumph of Love: A sonnet sequence, 1932

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada and the European Union]

Govinda Krishna Chettur biography