Elegy on Professor T V Reddy
K. V. Dominic
Lord Venkateswara,
why have you called back
your dear bard so soon?
The spiritual epic, his masterpiece
turned out to be his swan song
It came out of the press just a few months back
Couldn’t you grant him some more time
to get feedback of this sublime book?
Gentle breeze would have brought to your feet
more rhapsodies from his lips
Renowned poet Professor T V Reddy,
you were our dearest President
Elder brother and mentor
Your departure without any notice
drowned us in the ocean of grief
Time can’t fill the chasm
Irreplaceable is your absence
Started your career as Lecturer of English
Proved eminent Professor, Principal, Emeritus Fellow
Author of 21 books--poet, novelist,
short story writer, critic, grammarian
Your distinct poetic style
meeting point of past and present
Combination of beautiful structured rhymed
poetry and well crafted unrhymed free verse
Rhythm as musical as ripples of brook
A rural muse of Tirupati, portrayed
beauties of landscapes, flora, fauna,
poor people, animals and birds
Sorrows and tragedies of people around
brimmed your eyes and flowed to paper
Exploitation and corruption of politicians
hurt your mind and composed
excellent lampoons and satires
Spiritual and pious to the core
superb philosophical, metaphysical
poems flowed from your pen
Professor Reddy, how humble and simple you were
Never showy, preferred to be mute in assemblies
Gentle and loving to anyone who meets
Inspired and guided younger poets and critics
Your talk on English poetry enlightened the audience
Lord Venkateswara,
don’t you see your bard
shooting rays on you like a star?
Still your bard is yet to be
prescribed in universities’ syllabuses
Don’t you want to spread your message
every nook and corner of the world?
Professor Reddy glitters like a gem
among sparkling poets of the world
As sun can’t be hidden by moon
we are sure, Professor Reddy
can’t be ignored by universities for long
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