Varadaraja V. Raman has a University of Paris Ph.D. and taught physics and humanities for many years. He is an Emeritus Professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He wrote many articles on aspects of science and its impacts on society, poetry, and on India's heritage. (For his books I’ve read, click on his name.)

A mutual friend of V.V. Raman and mine brought him over to visit me in Ames. V.V. was quite pleased with my review of his book Truth and Tension in Science and Religion (book 317). In a second visit with me he loaned me three different books he authored. I chose this book of poetry as the next book of his to read. I placed this book under the category of Science and Religion since there is more of Science and Religion in this poetry book than any other of the 12 categories I use in this web site.

His poetry in this book is of various styles and seriousness. From the book’s table of contents I give the broad sweep of these many poems. Part I – Thoughts in Rhyming Couplets – has 11 chapters, each of which has a few 10-verse rhyming couplets, for a total of 51 poems. (At the end of Part I are 15 pages of explanations and notes.) Part II – Glimpses of Science History – has 13 multi-page poems that present, in chronological order, ‘genesis according to science’ (the title of the first poem) through the various major civilizations up to nineteenth century science (the title of poem 13). Part III – Light Verses – is 13 poems where he has some good poetic fun. Part IV – Religious and Philosophical Verses – has 17 poems. Part V – Places – has 4 poems. Part VI – Acrostics – has 5 poems. Part VII – Twisted Science History – has 14 poems. Part VIII – Miscellaneous – has 3 poems. And Part IX – Personal – has 2 poems.

Varadaraja V. Raman's poetry has much variety, many poems show insight with rhythm, and some poems just have fun with words and ideas. It is very hard for me to select a few poems to show some of the ideas this book contains. But since I feel I must, here are three short ones of the many (nearly all!) that I liked very much.

(1) BARTER (from Part III):

In a village in the south of France, they still deal in barter;
They exchange talents, services, whether cook, smith, or barber.
Once a doctor who cured a man, hoped back something bigger.
But the patient said, “Good physician, I’m just a grave digger.”

(2) WHEN THERE IS SORROW (from Part IV):

In the midst of pain and sorrow, let the light of joy remain.
When clouds of gloom surround us, let a ray of hope sustain.

When wrath and hate toss us, let’s hold hands and bow and pray
For the force of good to bind us, for peace and love to stay.

We feel and think in different ways, each bears a different name.
But in depths of feelings and basic needs, we’re humans: all the same.

(3) EINSTEIN, SPACE, AND TIME (from Part VII):

When Einstein was a little lad, he wasted his time; his dad got mad.
“Albert,” he said, “If sense you have any, you must know that time is money.”

When as a student, Einstein went all over town, a room to rent,
Since for larger rooms more rent one pays, Einstein found that money means space.

If Time was money, as the father had taught, and space was money, so Einstein thought,
Then it may be safely stated, that Space and Time are inter-related.