To the Indians Who Died in Africa
A man's destination is his own village,
His own fire, and his wife's cooking;
To sit in front of his own door at sunset
And see his grandson, and his neighbour's grandson
Playing in the dust together.
Scarred but secure, he has many memories
Which return at the hour of conversation,
(The warm or the cool hour, according to the climate)
Of foreign men, who fought in foreign places,
Foreign to each other.
A man's destination is not his destiny,
Every country is home to one man
And exile to another. Where a man dies bravely
At one with his destiny, that soil is his.
Let his village remember.
This was not your land, or ours: but a village in the Midlands,
And one in the Five Rivers, may have the same graveyard.
Let those who go home tell the same story of you:
Of action with a common purpose, action
None the less fruitful if neither you nor we
Know, until the judgement after death,
What is the fruit of action.
Eliot, T. S. "To the Indians Who Died in Africa." Collected Poems 1909-1962.
Psst:- This is a poem that I recited during the annual elocution contest in my school days.
Every second year a new English teacher used to think that because I had excellent spoken , I would naturally excel on stage and thus would nominate me for the elocution. And I would do it in style-forget my lines, mumble on staged, be booed off stage, be clapped off early and so on and so forth. And this happened year after year at contest after contest.
Of course it helped and my stage fright actually vanished when I entered college. Leaving behind many embarrassing memories littered on the shores of my mind.
Thats the reason when my batch mates sometimes compliment for my good communication skills( If I may say so), I cant help but smile over the past.
Anyway this is a poem I recited in class 8th or 7th and blew up spectacularly. However some disjointed verse remained fixed in my mind and since I had forgotten the title I could do little to find the whole poem. Was delighted when I managed to google it some time back and I now share it.
Enjoy the lines.
I find the third para very moving and deep.
