| Synopsis: |
Subtitled "The Poet of the Plateau", this is the earliest verse cycle of Amritah's, published for the very first time in the U.K. "Although I had joined You long before, You had not noticed me in your midst. Years I passed in your sleeping death - You did not see Me pass. In an indiscernible darkness lost, not a single sky star could I kiss. I did not even know my face - and nor did you know my name." - Soma Amritah This volume represents the first translation into the English language of Amritah's earliest poetic work "After the Fire", that was written in 1995 and published one year later by the Darius Press. It is, just like "Out of these Eyes" and "The Lost Verse", a poem that tells a story at the same time as casting a spell over us with its simple yet effective rhythm of verse. It is a very mature work for his first foray into poetry, and in it one can already detect some of the themes that will make an appearance in his later work.The translators of this work have expressed the hope that with very the different vocabulary of the English language they may have been able to communicate, even if not perfectly, the essential nature of the thoughts contained within "After the Fire", a work that bristles with as much inspiration as his later works, and undoubtedly with just as much of his spirit. Essential Reading. Here is an extract from the beginning of the work which should give you a taste of the style and content of this modern poet: Prologue (At the Beginning) - I am starting at the Beginning, although I know not Where it really begins, I only remember things vaguely now. I cannot recall them so clear. Out of the Fire I leapt, I awoke, there in the body, a man once more, above this planet the Eye of the Sun, beneath my feet - the Ground. Some of you here were beside me then and a mother and father, I had like you, but I did not recognize my own face, and I did not know my name. In an indiscernible darkness lost - years I passed in sleeping death. Small was the Earth to me then, and narrow the path of my life. |