The few and the many

There are no chosen few
It is that there are but few who choose themselves
There are no silent many
It is that many choose to stay silent
And speak their voice another day.

They also serve who only stand and wait
They also grieve who do not cry at death
Their tears are simply not for public view
They also laugh whose faces seldom smile
Their laughs are sadly few and far between

They also have their dignity
Whom food and shelter lack
They also have their divinity
Whom the Gods and grace have shunned
They also have their several wealths
Whom only poverty has clothed
They also have their several arts
Whom only ignorance has lettered
They also have their honour
Who are humbled by the mighty

The greatest heights that mankinds's thoughts may soar
The awful depths these self-same thoughts might delve
The noblest deeds that by plan or not be done
The basest acts that by force or consent be decreed
These are but tidal lines drawn upon the shore
Till later waves erase and redraw lines anew

There are no finished flows of thought
There are no finished works of art
There are but seeds that people sow
That their sons and daughters may one day know
What they loved and loathed and admired and feared
What was awesome, bold or petty, what inspired, what weird.

Note
I wrote this poem in July 2003. The other poems in my blog are in Tamil.

Erdos on Madras 
An Englishman's tamil inscription 
On human kindness 
Gift of a Magus 
Traffic - LMS 
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