The Only Original

Copying is one of the keys to originality. When I find my ‘voice’ in the ‘original’, I feel good. It is okay if someone has said it before me. I don’t feel guilty if I echoed similar thoughts in my own way. No one has the sole copyright of ‘original’ thinking. If there was no need of copying, what purpose the books have served? There is no point in conveying, if it is not worth copying. If I copy, say for example, Rabindranath, isn’t it an honour to the poet? Copying is ‘repurposing’. Those with staying power would not have stayed for so long in their profession had they not got exposed to their influences. The ecstasy of influence never wanes. Better the copiers we are, better the originals we become.

Some draw their own lines.
Some trace lines of others.
There is only one who created
in god-like fashion, something
out of nothing.
No one has seen
The only original.