A Mongolian Poem Explicated

A Mongolian Poem Explicated

The poem is composed by Gunaajav AYURZANA

Explicated by Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya

Text

Red Leaf

For the red leaf

I once plucked and forgot

I will pull off this flower

For the love trampled

Coming from that vulnerable leaf

Which I  remember now and then

I will pull off this flower

These flowers I call mistakes of my youth

And I will weep as I will send them off in the wind

 Explication

The  speaker of the poem  seems to explain his action and situation in the context of his past. He states that once upon a time he plucked a red leaf. But he forgot what he had done. But  right now his past actions flash upon his mind. He seems to be sorry for that. To redeem himself from the past wrongs the poet says that he will pull off the flower.Now what could the plucking of red leaf  mean? Well, the speaker says that the plucking of red leaf means trampling love.Curiously enough red is associated with the god of war in Mongolia. Besides Mongolian ladies wear red or blue cloth on head during winter.

Ulaan Bator means red hero. In Mongolia there are numerous plants that have red leaves,Red maple leaves decorate the houses of Mongolia. The red hue figures in the Mongolian flag. On either side of blue there is the red. The red  stands for the ability of Mongolia to thrive in the midst of Nature red in tooth and claw. Red symbolizes joy and happiness victory over the enemy and hospitality. So plucking of red leaf means destroying all these values . All these values of joy victory hospitality are summed up by the poet in one word –love.The poet trampled all these values by way of plucking a red leaf.The flower  thereof or the fruitions of his past actions is  awful although on the surface it might be beautiful. But nay. With the poet the leaf is vulnerable . It has the possibility of being attacked physically and emotionally  Some  Mongolian leaves

persist through months. And from those vulnerable leaves a flower  might show up. Why are the leaves vulnerable? Because nothing is permanent in these existence. So whatever values there might be are subject to decay and death. Hence the flower that springs from the bower of leaves torn from the tree of life are surely the mistakes of the youth. The tree of life is at the centre of the universe. Every tree is the kin of the tree of life. The tree of life is eternal. But when we separate any limb of the tree from the tree itself the limb is not deathless. Every value whatever must be organically connected with the tree of life.Although infinitude is beginningless and endless knowing no death when we forget the infinite and pluck the things in the contingent they are subject to decay and death.  Hence plucking a leaf from the tree of life is a sacrilege. The result of the act  shows up in the flower that springs from the leaf.The apparently beautiful things might bring about sorrows in the long run.The very act of plucking a leaf from a plant stands for an act impelled by desire. The result of the same is an attainment of flower.And the poet makes up his mind to pull off the flower. With the poet the flower is the result of the mistake of his  youth. This is an instance of antipoetry.Flowers stand for all that is beautiful and tender. But here the poet breaks away with the themes and motifs of traditional poetry. Poetry of love and desires hang heavy upon literature. The poet steps aside from the frequently trodden path of poetry.Love by the by he does not abhor.The vast world is about us below the protecting canvass of the blue skies. The blue heavens are over head and every thing is right with the world instinct with love . Once man impelled by the arrogance and desires of  youth acts here in this world he tramples love.He should know that everything in the world is vulnerable when it is possessed by man.The sights and sounds, the world of eye and ear are transitory.The flowers that are born of the possession of the transitory things of the world  must be  pulled off. And the poet thus strikes the note of nihil which is at the bottom of the world of phenomena. True. But the poem is clinched up with the beautiful  and wistful line----And I will weep as I send them off with the wind. This reminds us of the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas. They see into the heart of things and know that nothing is real . Despite that, their boundless pity and compassion for the flowers they pull off-- the flowers of the world of the contingent and the flowers of desires that are manifest in the worldly beings reaping their desires and actions ---are time and again.This compassion for the world of the contingent where everything is vulnerable has made the poem  extraordinarily beautiful sweet though in sadness