Poem: The Coracle

A late night chat in one of my book groups which has erudite readers. I can’t remember the source of this song, but it is a folk song, sung in Tamil/ Kannada. It is about the first journey of a little girl in a Coracle, in the swirling waters of Hoggenakkel, a tourist spot near the border of Tamilnadu and Karnataka states in India. My mother used to describe it, but could neither pin the lyrics exactly nor the source. The poem brings out the paradox of the human centric view of life — where there is no humans without life.

The Coracle is needed to travel the waves of the rapids, but without the waves, we don’t need the Coracle.

Poem: The Coracle

Touch the water, oh, little one
The froth and the wetness
Time, my little one, is like water
Your little finger tips can feel it
Yet, it will slip past like a fish
Giggle, because you don’t know yet
The swirls are your toys
Wetting your curiosity
The momentous joy — I wish
Stays with you forever.

As you grow older,
The swirls become whirls
The childish delight now –
A respectful caution.
I really don’t know, my little one,
Where it all changes –
The joy of innocence
Becomes the caution of adulthood.

The innocence of your heart,
I wish stays on forever
But, I know a day will come
Your fingers that splash and spray
and touch the swirls in delight
will hold the Coracle firm and tight
that is when the water disappears
and the Coracle appears.

~Ashok Subramanian © 2024

“There is an innocence in admiration: it occurs in one who has not yet realized that they might one day be admired.”
― Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche