“To Isabel”, in contrast, is a Yeatsean reaction to growing old.

Aging, according
to the narrator, cooled the turbulent streams of desire and love so that they
end in a “still lake / Whence they can find no outward road” (7-8). Around this
still lake trees grow “to the height of fear”; these tall trees of fear cut off light
and drive away anything that is lively and colourful (10). Only “the wise
reflective owl” remains and thrives in the gloomy wood of age. The wisdom the
narrator and his Isabel have acquired in their old age allows them to
understand their condition; however, that has not made it possible for them to
forgive their bodies for their betrayal. So the narrator, wishes that he had
“died at forty” and Isabel at thirty-five (1).
“The Fisherman Mourned by His Wife”, one of Fernando’s earlier poems,
attempts to illustrate the impact of death on a different social stratum. The
closeness the fisherman’s wife has felt towards her husband makes her
incapable of “with simple grief / Assuage [the sudden] dismemberment” of
their relationship(34-35). Still, like in his other poems on death, life goes on
even after the death of a dearly loved husband. “Once more the flamboyante is
torn, / The sky cracks like a shell again” (39-40). As stated earlier, Fernando’s
understanding of the nature of life is shaped by both the Bible and Greco-
Roman classics that stress accepting one’s lot and doing nothing in excess. His
craftsmanship shaped by these perceptions has served Fernando quite well in
his work dealing with the socio-political milieu to which he belonged. However,
quite understandably the same resources fail to do full justice to Fernando’s
gift in the context of “The Fisherman Mourned by His Wife”. Taken as a
statement on death in general, the poem has a matchless grace generated
mainly through the careful use of language. However, when one reads the
poem with one eye on the context, the august diction and the mater-of-fact
tone customary of Fernando’s work make the fisherwoman’s grief feel
unnaturally restrained. Lakdasa Wikkramasinha in “The Cobra”, on the other
hand, allows a man similarly circumstanced a fervent outburst over the tragic
death of his “woman Dunkiriniya, / the very lamp” of his heart (12-13). The use
of the term “my woman” by Wikkramasinha instead of the institutionalized
middleclass word “wife” brings out the depth of the union between a man and
a woman bound by bonds that go beyond those sponsored by the anglicised
institution of marriage.
“The Way of the Adjutant Stork” is a satirical elegy which, according to the
narrator, was written upon the event of the long-awaited death of a great-
aunt. The portrait is strongly reminiscent of similar portraits composed by
Neoclassical poets such as Dryden and Pope. Interestingly, “adjutant” is an
executive level position in the military and “adjutant stork” is a great ugly bird
of the crane family. Together, the two references give the reader a very
unflattering picture of an ugly domineering old woman. The great-aunt’s high-
handed monologues are mockingly compare to the “stab, rattle and stab” of
the mandibles of a powerful crane that had reduced the narratoer’s cowed
mother into uttering “unmeant amens or [be] struck dumb/ At each ‘don’t you
agree?’ aimed straight at her” (8,9-10). The family took the great-aunt’s
“diamond will … as Heaven’s will: / Marriage forced or loosed and every niece/
Too poor and plain coaxed into a convent” (18-20). Such misery had the old
woman inflicted on her kith and kin that everybody has been immensely
relieved when she finally “flopped” (49). Though this is a private experience, if
one is to apply this experience to society at large, this is the kind of relief the
subjects of a tyranny might feel upon the death of a much hated tyrant. In that
sense the poem is a warning to those who suffer from megalomaniacal
tyrannical tendencies.

“The Fisherman Mourned By His Wife” is a mournful poem on the death of a

husband. The wife remembers how their marriage was arranged and how the
fisherman trembled to enjoy the bliss of married life. She recollects-
“My eyes were open in the dark unlike in love,
Trembling, lest in fear, you’ll let me go a maid,
Trembling, on the other hand, for my virginity.”
Thereafter, he was always in haste to run to her but it was not to be for long. He
was in haste to run away from her. So he did leaving with her his token of love.
The poor wife couldn’t even console herself-
“Men come and go, some say they understand,
……………………………………………………
You had grown so familiar as my hand,
That I cannot with simple grief
Assuage dismemberment.”

bstract: This study examines „The Magi (Reflection on a Christmas Card)‟ by Patrick
Fernando perceiving the poem as a gentle warning on „affronting tradition‟ especially
tradition surrounding religion. Attempting to add another dimension to the scrutiny, a brief
cross analysis between „The Magi‟ by Patrick Fernando and „Journey of the Magi‟ by T.S.
Eliot explores the poems in juxtaposition across three stages: the journey; the depiction of
the nativity; the aftermath. Then a contrastive analysis of the intricacies of the finale of the
poems is conducted. Syncretizing belief systems surrounding nativity and a selected
Buddhist Jathaka tale: Sasa Jathakaya, this paper argues that scientific inquiry into the
accuracy and viability of such legends is an exegesis which results in theological
disillusionment. Thus, the norm that legendary belief systems are exempted from veracity
analysis is stressed based on a conjecture of Karl Marx's statement "religion... is the opiate
of the masses”