Collected Poems

340 Pages·2006·12.696 MB·English

by  Nissim Ezekiel

'
OXFORD
INDIA PAPERBACKS
mm
RR|J|
1
|X ^fflHpfr(H
Fl” ^ ’ JBj’ i
;Mstwmumma
Emm
ssssas
Boston Public Library
MA
Boston, 02116
Collected Poems
REMEMBERING NISSIM
‘When Adil Jussawalla threw an impromptu party for
Nissim’s 70th birthdaywith wine from Vasai and pizzas
from Colaba, there were three generations of poets
roiling around him.
‘Three generations ofanything can create an awful
amount ofroil but three generations ofpoets who loved
him, hated him, felt pity for him, tried to ignore him,
took their revenge in public, apologised in private? It must have taken an
awful lot ofdetermination to continue to “only connect”.
‘But he was a man who reached out, who was accessible in a way few
people can be.’
—
Jerry Pinto, Mid-day
‘When I was a boywe used to meet at the Naaz cafe on a rooftop in Cumballa
Hill. He would look beyond the chairs and tables to the open sea, a cigarette
in his long fingers, and smile his kindly smile, contented with this time and
this place. He had the gift, given only to a few people, of being happy with
small and humble things.’
—
Dom
Moraes, Outlook
‘Over the last decade he was less a poet than a patriarch among Bombay
poets, chatting, advising, joking as he read their poems and tried to place
them somewhere. Though forthright, he was seldom blunt, never pontificated
and normally put his views across with considerable wit. He was a friend
—
and not a mentor. He had more or less sloughed off his earlier roles art
critic, literary editor ofimportant journals, radical humanist a la M.N. Roy,
book reviewer, and writer of lucid and sometimes trenchant prose as V.S.
Naipaul discovered to his discomfiture.’
—
Keki N. Daruwalla, The Hindu
Nissim Ezekiel
$
Poems
Collected
Second Edition
with a preface by
Leela Gandhi
and an introduction by
John Thieme
OXEORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
OXTORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
YMCA Library Building, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi 110 001
Oxford University Press is a department ofthe University of Oxford. It furthers the
University’s objective ofexcellence in research, scholarship, and education
by publishing worldwide in
Oxford New York
Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur
Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto
With
offices in
Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala
Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland
Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam
Oxford is a registered trademark ofOxford University Press
in the UK and in certain other countries
Published in India by Oxford University Press, New Delhi
©
Oxford University Press 1989
The moral rights ofthe author have been asserted
Database right Oxford University Press (maker)
First published in Oxford India Paperbacks 1992
Fifth impression 1999
Second edition 2005
All rights reserved. No part ofthis publication may be reproduced,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without permission in writing from Oxford University Press.
Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be
sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above
You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer
ISBN 019 567249 6
Typeset in
Printed in India by
Published by Manzar Khan, Oxford University Press
YMCA Library Building, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi 110 001
Contents
t
Preface xiii
by Leela Gandhi
Introduction xix
by John Thieme
A TIME TO CHANGE
(1952) 1
A
Time to Change 3
On an African Mask 6
Communication 7
The Double Horror 7
On
Meeting a Pedant 8
Robert 9
The Worm 10
An
Affair 11
In Emptiness 11
History 12
Poetry 13
Something to Pursue 14
Morning Prayer 20
A Word for the Wind 21
The Great 21
Advice 22
Words in a Gentle Wind 23
Occupation 24
The Old Woman 24
And God Revealed 25
Commitment 26
Birth 26
To a Certain Lady 27
Contents vi
/
Failure 30
Year’s End 31
Planning 31
Preferences 32
The Prophet 33
Reading 33
Declaration 34
Encounter 34
SIXTY POEMS (1953) 37
NEW POEMS 39
A Poem of Dedication 39
The Stone 40
The Crows 41
Song 42
Situation 43
Lines 43
A
Visitor 44
44
Portrait
For William Carlos Williams 45
Marriage Poem 46
Boss 47
Two Nights of Love 47
Description 48
The Old Abyss 48
A Poem of Blindness 49
Scriptures 49
Nothingness 50
Foresight 51
Sotto Voce 51
POEMS (1950-1)
Speech and Silence 53
Prayer 54
I
Prayer II 55
Contents / vii
Transmutation 56
The Child 56
Song for Spring 57
Night Piece 58
Day 59
Nakedness 60
I
Nakedness 60
II
Remember and Forget 61
Tribute 62
Squirrel 62
Confession 63
After Rain 63
64
Illness
A A
Song, Violin 64
My
Cat 65
A
Short Story 66
For Her 67
The Female Image 68
Episode 68
The Fisherman 69
The Stuffed Owl 70
Song 71
Penitence 71
Lamentation 72
I Wore a Mask 72
Psalm 151 73
Told the Thames 73
I
Love Song 74
Nocturne 74
Agony In the Morning 75
First Theme and Variations 75
Second Theme and Variations 77
Cain 78
Creation 79
Contents / viii
EARLY POEMS (1945-8) 80
The Problem 80
The Recluse 80
Townlore 81
Question 82
Delighted by Love 82
Dualism 83
Invocation 83
Heart-hardening 84
Report 84
THE THIRD
(1958) 85
POEMS, JANUARY 1954 TO DECEMBER 1958
Portrait 87
Division 87
For Her 88
Waking 89
Admission 89
Memo
for a Venture 90
Advice 91
Paean 92
Aside 93
Declaration 93
Tonight 94
The Cur 95
In the Queue 96
Conclusion 96
Two Adolescents 97
At the Party 98
Episode 98
Wisdom
99
Encounter 100
Prayer 100
Insight 101
Insectlore 102