3 verses · ~1 min
कितनी बार तुम्हें देखा पर आँखें नहीं भरीं।
सीमित उर में चिर-असीम सौंदर्य समा न सका बीन-मुग्ध बेसुध-कुरंग मन रोके नहीं रुका यों तो कई बार पी-पीकर जी भर गया छका एक बूँद थी, किंतु, कि जिसकी तृष्णा नहीं मरी। कितनी बार तुम्हें देखा पर आँखें नहीं भरीं।
शब्द, रूप, रस, गंध तुम्हारी कण-कण में बिखरी मिलन साँझ की लाज सुनहरी ऊषा बन निखरी, हाय, गूँथने के ही क्रम में कलिका खिली, झरी भर-भर हारी, किंतु रह गई रीती ही गगरी। कितनी बार तुम्हें देखा पर आँखें नहीं भरीं।
इति
The Poet
शिवमंगल सिंह ‘सुमन’
Shivamangal Singh 'Suman'
1915 · 2002
There is a particular form of literary courage that has nothing to do with defiance or rebellion the courage of choosing to remain human when circumstances press hard toward despair. Shivamangal Singh Suman possessed this courage in extraordinary measure. He wrote across the full breadth of the progressive literary movement in Hindi, and his work bears the mark of a mind that refused to choose between aesthetic beauty and social conscience, insisting with deep patience that both are necessary if poetry is to perform its highest function. His verses walk the razor's edge between lyric grace and the weight of lived suffering never collapsing into sentimentality, never hardening into polemic. Born in Unnao in 1915, Suman rose to lead Vikram University as its Vice Chancellor, becoming one of the rare figures who moved between the world of intellectual administration and the world of pure creative fire without losing his substance in either. He received the Padma Bhushan and Sahitya Akademi recognition, but his true monument is the quality of sustenance his verses have provided across generations of readers who found in him a poet who understood that the will to go on is, in itself, a form of sacred defiance.
Paired Painting
Radharani's Sidelong Glance
This deeply moving devotional artwork captures the divine grace of Srimati Radharani, the eternal consort of Lord Krishna, standing by the sacred waters of the Yamuna River. Her posture is gentle yet profoundly regal, adorned in exquisite traditional jewelry and a deep blue sari that mirrors the twilight sky. Beside her, faithful companions observe quietly as ripples softly dance across the water. The artwork evokes the spiritual longing and intimate devotion described in the sacred hymns dedicated to Radharani, reminding the viewer of her boundless compassion and the purifying grace found in her sidelong glance.
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