Poems on Anger

Poetry is a mirror to our day to day life, we all know. As a part of the ongoing 5th birthday celebration I have been sharing poems on five basic emotions we all​ feel frequently; pain, love, and joy/happiness; I have already posted in the last 15 days. Today I am sharing a poem on ‘anger’. I have been reading a lot of poems on anger, maybe close to a 100 in the past one week and I must tell you, even though I felt the pain, hurt behind those words still it is such a negative emotion, it took me a while to come out of it.
Anger is cumulative hurt sometimes. It is better to express whenever one feels so and get rid of it from your system because if it is suppressed for a long period of time it comes out in a very ugly manner and may not convey the intention behind it and of course the consequences will be worse than the actual situation.

The following words from a poem explain the genesis of anger, a warning sign!

When toxic and volatile emotions
Are causing confusion and commotion,
Feelings are hijacked, hot thoughts race,
Mind gets enveloped in a rage.

As a consequence, visibility comes down,
It’s wise to shift gears and slow down.
Switch on the wipers
And clear the fog on the mind’s mirror.
– ‘Controlling Anger Before It Controls You’ – Poem by Mamta Agarwal, excerpts.

Also, in the ‘Bhagwad Geeta’, it is beautifully described how anger is born in our minds

ध्यायतो विष्यान्पुंसः सङ्गस्तेषूपजायते।
सङात्सन्जायते कामः कामात्क्रोधोभिजायते ।।६२।।
क्रोधाद्भवति सम्मोहः सम्मोात्स्मृतिविभ्रमः।
स्मृतिभ्रंशाद् बुद्धिनाशो बुद्धिनाशात्प्रणश्यति ।।६३।।

Thinking about sense objects brings an attachment towards them. Attachment breeds desire, and desire leads to frustration/anger, which in turn leads to delusion. When you are deluded, you lose your memory and with the loss of memory, the power of discrimination is destroyed; with the destruction of discrimination, your self is lost/ destroyed.

Then there is a type of anger which is ‘good’ for us, human beings. It is anger towards injustice, wrongdoers, status-quo, towards our own weaknesses, such an anger brings about change in our self, our society. Such angry rebels bring revolution in fields of creativity, governance, education even in religion, so on & so forth. There is a word for it in Hindi ‘पूण्यप्रकोप’, which helps to destroy old, useless, harmful, exploiting rituals, practices. It also wakes us up from slumber and inspires us to take action.
Also, there is a poisonous type of anger…
A Poison Tree

I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears,
Night and morning with my tears;
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.
– William Blake [1757-1827]excerpts
As shown in this poem hidden anger seeps into your soul, fills it with poison and ends with the revenge/destruction of the so-called enemy. If people start taking out anger by plotting and killing their enemies, there will be no law & order in the world.
So I found this beautiful poem which shows us the way how to control our anger. We can utilize our energy for a better cause. What do you think?
………………

Defeat Anger

Anger bestowed upon self
Is weight upon soul
If you cannot walk with rocks tied onto your feet
Why then would you put so much weight onto your soul

It hurts inside, and you know it
It burns inside, and you feel it
But you not listening to your reasoning
Nor paying attention to your past

Let go, would be easy
But you hold on, like its priceless
If there is anyone losing
That person would be you

Common, enjoy the freedom
And see the people smiling
If the eye, a window to the soul
Then anger, a veil over the eyes

Get those rocks off your feet
Lift up those veil off your eyes
Let your true self reveal
The beauty you hold inside

– Poem by David Beckham
……………………..