Where The Mind is Without Fear ...

WHERE the mind is without fear and the head is held high

Where knowledge is free

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments

By narrow domestic walls

Where words come out from the depth of truth

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way

Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit

Where the mind is led forward by thee

Into ever-widening thought and action

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. 

By Rabindranath Tagore

The Road Not Taken...

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

And miles to go before I sleep...

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep. 

- by Robert Frost

This is a beautiful poem and very meaningful too...but the last four lines are especially close to my heart...!! I am so hooked to these lines - my favorite quote for a long time now...!! I am not sure where and when I read these for the first time but ever since... I have absolutely loved these lines...!!

Robert Frost is a great poet and he has beautifully captured the true meaning of life in just the four lines...  simple yet superb... really brilliant!! 

Yes... life is a travel... through and through... ever continuing... never stopping...!! Isn’t this ‘continuity’ the very soul of living...??

 

Footprints on the sands of time...

   TELL me not, in mournful numbers,

        Life is but an empty dream ! —

    For the soul is dead that slumbers,

        And things are not what they seem.

    Life is real !   Life is earnest!

        And the grave is not its goal ;

    Dust thou art, to dust returnest,

        Was not spoken of the soul.

    Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

        Is our destined end or way ;

    But to act, that each to-morrow

        Find us farther than to-day.

    Art is long, and Time is fleeting,

        And our hearts, though stout and brave,

    Still, like muffled drums, are beating

        Funeral marches to the grave.

    In the world's broad field of battle,

        In the bivouac of Life,

    Be not like dumb, driven cattle !

        Be a hero in the strife !

    Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant !

        Let the dead Past bury its dead !

    Act,— act in the living Present !

        Heart within, and God o'erhead !

    Lives of great men all remind us

        We can make our lives sublime,

    And, departing, leave behind us

        Footprints on the sands of time ;

    Footprints, that perhaps another,

        Sailing o'er life's solemn main,

    A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

        Seeing, shall take heart again.

    Let us, then, be up and doing,

        With a heart for any fate ;

    Still achieving, still pursuing,

        Learn to labor and to wait.

 (A PSALM OF LIFE by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow )

I recited this poem for one of the English Recitation Competition at my school. Even though I could not fully comprehend and appreciate this poem then, I loved it... I loved its lyrics... for beautiful rhyming and for picturesque wordings. And now when I read this poem... I am absolutely bowled over by the content...  it inspires... and enlightens...!! Absolutely simple... yet absolutely mind-blowing..!! This poem, just the few lines, captures the gist of whole life...!! It is so fresh... so modern....!! So realistic in the present context that at times I am surprised that it was penned down as early as October 1838.

That this poem is contemporary to our times....tells that... though world has changed...  and that we have changed... and also our outlooks... priorities... beliefs... and everything... but still the true meaning of life has not changed... over these years... rather the centuries...!!

I believe that the real meaning of the life can never change...it is passed on from one generation to next...  knowingly or unknowingly...!! Our generation is following the footprints left behind by the past generations... and the coming generations will follow ours...!!

And miles to go before I sleep...

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

                                  - Robert Frost

I don't remember when I read these lines ... for the first time... but for long... these have been my favorites. Just four lines... and they define life perfectly... :) So beautiful... and so simple yet so meaningful... and so complete!!

Life is a journey... and each of us is a lonely traveler... and we have to continually walk ahead... and when we stop...we seize to exist anymore...!!

Yes... It's a journey... of gradually growing up...of continuously evolving.... and of attaining the wisdom...!! It's unique because... there are no destinations...to this!! It's a journey... through and through :) ... And the beauty is... that everyone is journeying... inherently, even without realizing it… and that we do not have any choices or options... it’s compulsory... and the very essence of our being!!

In life... everyone is for himself or herself... we are always alone...!! We live with people... we live among people... but still each of us has a different and a unique path to tread...!! No two people can ever be together in the same space... time and context...!! It’s weird... right?? I know...!! But I have thought over it... again and again... and this belief has only grown stronger...!! Even when we are together.... like... celebrating a festival... or watching a movie... or simply talking.... each of us still has a distinct identity... either in space or time or context....!!

It’s a continuous travel... and there are no stops... :) ....Every second of every minute of every hour of every day... and even when we are apparently not doing anything... we are still walking.... it’s a travel through time... and we are always traveling ahead... there are no looking back :)

The day... we reach our destination... our journey comes to an end and so does the life... because this journey is nothing but the LIFE itself!!

I miss you

…………….….Everything seemed just perfectly fine
I smiled and blushed… holding your hands in mine

I miss your hug and I miss every kiss………………
…You got me everything…even before I could wish

I can't forget all the times we had
The good times and also the bad...

All the nights… I spent … in your arms…
….Now...is the time I spend without any charm…..

Wishing that you were here with me …
…..gives me nothing but misery…

I can't forget how it felt to be with you………………..
A pampered princess… with a prince as charming as you…...

I simply can't forget the lovely times….
....so incomplete without you around!!

I treasure you...

Because of you...

I know the value of listening

and understanding

without being judgmental.

Because of you...

I can feel the pleasure of 

happy emotions

that lingers as unshed tears

without feeling conscious.

Because of you...

I can have the pleasure of

confiding every secret

without fearing consequences.

Because of you...

I can spread my wings

and fly over

the limitless expanse of earth and sky

without the fear of falling.

Because of you...

I know that when

I reach out you'll be there for me

without ever letting go.

Because of you...

I know that 

dreams can become reality

without getting lost into nothing.

Because of you...

I know that life is 

a beautiful experience.

I treasure you...

This beautiful quote/poem is from an Archies card that I had bought for him on 26/01/2006.