In Greek mythology, Eros was the Greek god of love and sex. In the Theogony of Hesiod (700 BCE), Eros was a primeval god, son of Chaos(the original primeval emptiness of the universe) but later tradition made him the son of Aphrodite(goddess of sexual love and beauty) by either Zeus (the king of the gods), Ares (god of war and of battle), or Hermes (divine messenger of the gods). Eros was a god not simply of passion but also of fertility. His brother was Anteros( the god of mutual love) who was sometimes described as his opponent. The chief associates of Eros were Pothos and Himeros (Longing and Desire). Roman counterpart of Eros was Cupid . Eros has the ability to make mortals and gods fall in love by shooting them with his bow and arrow. This would work on both mortals and gods. Thanatos, in ancient Greek religion and mythology, was the personification of death. Hesiod thought that Thanatos was the son of the Nyx (goddess of the night) and the Erebus (god of darkness). This makes Thanatos dark and negative. His twin brother is Hypnos, the god of sleep. He appeared to humans to carry them off to the underworld when the time allotted to them by the Fates had expired. It is believed Thanatos to be always nearby Eros. They are brothers. One represents the life and creation and another death and destruction. In Greek mythology, Eros is the god of love, and Thanatos is the god of death, making them opposite of one another. Eros is portrayed as nice, compassionate, loving, and full of life. This is how Eros came to represent the instinct of life. People who are driven by life instincts are often happy, compassionate, and social. Thanatos is associated with violent death and would be called upon by gods who wished to inflict death upon one another. Thanatos often manifested anger, violence, and aggression. These characteristics are portrayed in those who are driven by death instincts.

This collection has 69 poems. Under Eros 35 and under Thanatos 34.

‘Fall of the Last Petal’ is my third collection of English Poems, the other two being ‘Silence between two Words’ and ‘A Dialogue of Yesterday…….Continues’. A poet per se should not speak more. His poems should. ‘Fall of the Last Petal’ is an anecdotal metaphor of transformation of a beast into a man. To a pair of bare eyes, the fall of the last petal is the declaration of the death of the flower. A poet, however sees this whole episode to be a narrative of renewal and regeneration of life in the ever present Cycle of Life and Death. A petal returns to the womb and takes a rebirth to become a full-blown flower. What we see is not the whole truth, a lot remains unseen. Life, the ever present knows no finality. Death also is not the end. To be prescient, there is no beginning and no end. The Eliotesque narration in ‘Burnt Norton’ (No.1 of ‘Four Quartets) is apt here to be quoted verbatim. “Time present and time past Are both perhaps present in time future And time future contained in time past”.

“What might have been is an abstraction

Remaining a perpetual possibility”.

The poet does not have the sole and exclusive right over his poem. At times, poem chooses the poet. Words on their own dictate the poet to note down the lines. The only intellectual capital of the poet, if there is any, in his poetic sensibilities and perspective. Sensibility is his inward being and perspective is how he sees his surroundings. Sometimes the poet remains in the oblivion, outside the circumference of the poem. That is the discourse of his meditation, and salvation. What more does a poet need to prove his existence ? My book is now in your hands for critical scrutiny which you have acquired with the language of your consciousness and wisdom. It gives me immense pleasure to expect my readers to have an open dialogue with the poems. I am to conclude with the extract of the poem “Accomplice” by Jorge Luis Borges. “They crucify me, I have to be the Cross, the nails. They hand me the cup, I have to be the hemlock They trick me, I have to be the lie They burn me alive, I have to be the hell”. Need I say anything more after the extract ? —Dr. Ratikanta Mishra

Haraprasad Das believes that poetry written in a language must retain in the end the irreducible minimum resonance of that language that is epiphanic, crystalline and inimitably original ! He has until now published more than eighteen works of poetry apart from a huge body of social and literary discourses. He is the recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award, the highest award of the National Academy of Letters, the prestigious Gangadhar Meher National Poetry Award, and the Moortidevi award of the Bharatiya Jnanpith, apart from numerous awards, honours and felicitations. Black Eagle Books hopes to hallmark the Indian poetic space with omnibuses carrying the entire body of the Odia Poetry of Haraprasad Das.