Leave Taking - Cecil Rajendra

 

The title of the poem “Leave Taking” by Cecil Rajendra is euphemistic as the content deals with a death, not just going away to some other part of the world. The poem has three uneven stanzas with no discernable rhyming scheme. The first stanza has four lines while the second and the third have 10 and 13 each. The theme of the poem are transience of life, our inborn need for human contact, the increasing gap between people in the modern world and its effect on the most vulnerable groups of our society: children and the aged, and the lack of artifice in the child.

Stanza I

The only joy

Of his old age

He often said

Was his grandson

 

The poem opens with a reference to a conclusion the grandfather has made about his grandson being the only joy of his old age. Often old people are cut off from socioeconomic activities of their society and made to live lives that are devoid of physical, emotional and intellectual stimulation. This may not necessarily be done out of disrespect or desire to inflict pain. Most of the time it is their diminished physical capacities and illnesses that prevent them from taking part in the activities other younger people take part. Left at home, they often become the guardians of their grandchildren while their own parents are out performing their various responsibilities. Similarly, East or west, these days it is a common feature that parents have very little time to spend on and with their own progeny. The reason for this is by no means wilful negligence; the parents are often struggling to keep the wolves at bay and that battle today requires quite a sizable portion of a person’s life. The result is, left to fend for themselves, the neglected parties, the children and the older generation enter into a symbiotic relationship in the absence of their parents/their sons and daughters. The reason why they band together goes beyond mere material benefits. The older generation provides the younger generation care and guidance while the younger gives the older generation emotional and physical stimulation. Ultimately, their dependence on each other becomes so complete that they become the most important people on earth to each other: “The only joy/Of his old age/He often said/Was his grandson.” The stanza is a single inverted clause. The modification of the word “joy” with the term “only” makes the poem more poignant.

It is their yearning for love, affection, companionship, admiration, etc. that encourages the two of the most common casualties of industrial capitalism form a mutually beneficial association. However, it is erroneous to believe this would have been vastly different in the feudal time. However, those days the aged died early and the young had a very brief childhood for this to be a serious threat to crop up as a widespread pressing social problem. Today with more and more people routinely living way beyond 75 and more children surviving into adulthood and spending nearly ¼ of their lives as dependents, this situation is becoming worse day by day. Going back to the poem, the brevity as well as the simplicity of the first stanza stands for the uncomplicated but heartfelt relationship between the grandson and the old man.  

Stanza II

Their friendship

Straddled

Eight decades

Three generations

They laughed, played, quarrelled, embraced

Watched television together

And while the rest had

Little to say to the old man

The little fellow was

A fountain of endless chatter.

 

The third person narrator begins the second stanza by making an observation on the relationship between the old man and the child:

Their friendship

Straddled

Eight decades

Three Generations.

 

The gap between the ages of the two parties involved in this beautiful mutually sustaining relationship is 80 years. The old man must be at least in his mid to late eighties. Together with the difference in their ages, there was the generation to which the old man’s children who also happened to be the child’s parents belong to. The two had to bypass both challenges. The reference to the generation between the two might be read as a veiled reference to the objections the child’s parents may raise against their relationship.

Yet, the two continued their relationship born out of necessity: “They laughed, played, quarrelled, embraced/ Watched television together.” Their relationship was not always harmonious: they “quarrelled” but they immediately “embraced” and made up. Old age is often referred to as the second childhood so their tastes were similar when it came to television programmes, which might not be the case when it comes to other adults. Nobody talked to the old man – “the rest had/Little to say to the old man”; nobody listened to the “little fellow”. The repetition of the word “little” invites comparison: the old man was of little use so there was little use and the son was also “little”. Consequently, two little people embrace each other’s littleness and find comfort in each other. Together, they fulfilled each other’s needs. The second stanza has 10 lines, once again with no discernable rhyming scheme.  The lines are relatively short except the 5^th which packs a series of action verbs illustrating the nature of the togetherness of the old man and the little fellow. In addition poet creates a dichotomy between the grandson/father and “the rest”.  The rest had little to say to the old man. The absence of the indefinite article ‘a’ points at complete lack of communication. By juxtaposing the silence that dominated the other relations of the grandfather - and even of the grandson - with the “fountain of endless chatter” that marked theirs, the poet creates something of an oasis for the little fellow and the old man amidst the inhospitable desert-like home-environment, lack of which would have saddened their daily existence immeasurably. Incidentally, the metaphor of a fountain used in this context is quite appropriate due to the life-sustaining and enervating quality of the “endless chatter”. Of course “chatter” is what it was to the poetic persona, for the grandson and the grandfather, their conversation would have been of profound consequence.

Stanza III          

When death rattled

The gate at five

One Sunday morning

Took the old man away

Others trumpeted their

Grief in loud sobs

And lachrymose blubber

He never shed tear

Just waved one of his

Small inimitable goodbyes

To his grandfather

And was sad the old man

Could not return his gesture

 

The last stanza has 13 lines. They say 13 is an unlucky number. Personified death onomatopoeically rattle the gate at five o’clock on a Sunday morning. The term “rattle” can be read as a reference to the death rattle of the dying man. It also can be read as the deadly nature of death – rattlesnakes announce their deadly presence by rattling the hard substance on their tail. The gate that death rattled can also be the gate between the land of the living and the land of the dead. The reference to “five” and “Sunday morning” is of course a reference to the unpredictability of life and the suddenness of death. It is death that takes the old man away; what is left is an empty shell. “Others” who lad “little” to say to him when he was alive either out of guilt or just for the world to see “trumpeted their /Greif in loud sobs/ And lachrymose blubber”. The terms “trumpeted” and “lachrymose blubber” express the poetic persona’s take on the dishonesty/insincerity of “Others”. Juxtaposed with the cacophony they make, the “fountain of endless chatter” is silent. Being small, he is new to death he does not know that his companion would not return therefore he does not see any reason to cry. The little one is honest in his expressions unlike “Others”. Instead, he “waved one of his / Small inimitable goodbyes/ To his grandfather” – the goodbye was something that cannot be duplicated for it was tailor-made for his grandfather. He is saddened by his grandfather’s inability to respond as he undoubtedly used to. Still, he understands that it was not the fact that he did not want to – he “[c]ould not return his gesture”; he had complete faith in his companion not to hurt or disappoint him.                

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