How important is it for us to know… to grow in knowledge? What happens in a society and culture when knowledge gets supplanted by power?
Recently, we, The Gateway Center, have organized the Creative Writing Competition.
In this post we are celebrating the 1st place winner of our writing competition with Srishti Bhattacharya’s poem, Unattainable (An ode to knowledge). It is an emotive and evocative exploration of both the beauty and importance of knowledge, and what happens when knowledge is compromised.
Unattainable (An ode to knowledge)
She, the expansive blue of the tumbling cloth,
where cowrie shells bounce to the endless sky.
She, the moistened soil of illusions hid
the desert sucks with, into its bosom dry.
She, the daughter-in-law of endless heights,
that the sun and stars bow before in awe.
She, the turn of the unbalanced globe,
that hold it in the embrace of forces beyond
The love of her, nectar and poison concocted,
the sweet melody guiding the ages of man.
She, the mistress to the builders of civilizations,
and still only wife to constructors of sand.
Dressed then in peasants’ garb, earth-scented, unadorned,
Now she’s an empress with gods coming at her gates.
Here she languishes in the wordsmith’s bending quill,
There she’s reborn beneath the artist’s cautious gaze.
Humanity stands warned, her treacherous tales now told,
though her seductive scent still sleeps on the air.
Kings and generals have drawn their swords,
though foolish saints still stand to dare.
And then the prince – the youngest of the lo,
in the royal court, with horse and armour,
rises to battle the loin of his production,
and slays with his sword the anguished father.
You, merciless thirst, parching man and child,
adulteress virgin, what is it you seek?
You, destroyer and creator of universes and its children,
now amused at that unfortunate, for whom you would weep.
You stand at the guillotine of fallen Faustus,
smiling at the lust your touch had evoked.
Just as it was in your excessive love,
Chaste Eve betrayed her sinless abode
Trickster, disguiser, confounding and condoning,
creating Eden in hell’s fiery circle.
As the stealthy wind go steal a kiss
or retreat with the waves back into your ocean.
By Srishti Bhattacharya,
1st place winner ( Gateway’s Creative writing competition).
So, Srishti Bhattacharya, a big congratulations to you from us all at the Gateway Center for your excellent contribution. A well-deserved first prize!