Guru of Penance

Published in Muse India: Issue 36 Mar - Apr 2011


Two-folded limbs utter karmic chants
guilty outstretched palms to heaven
tremble weak in unanswered devotion.
Ringed ear and finger pale in weakening light
as his entrance test approaches - the grey
overcast concoction- that ruthlessly precipitates.


Minutes to an hour, an inbound path
of restless reconstruction begins.
In mortal flesh, he dreams his forgiven image -
an acid-rain-drenched, mould-rotten
penitent meditator. Like a boulder of rock
immortalised - an embalmed yogi.


Alas! An ant bites.
He shivers, shakes his disturbance away
in good riddance to elusive worldliness.
The sting purifies, conviction flows
through his unclouded veins, grit overcomes guilt;
the dawning realisation heals.


Stallion-limbed emperor to demonic warlord
his bloody swords shrieked,
innocent blood froze in cold-blooded conquests.
but now, he meditates in profound knowledge;
grey clouds and mind give way to unveil,
a sky bespeckled with cosmic stardust.


The teary-eyed, one-legged guru of penance,
folds his palms at his temple ,
chants in obeisance and gratitude.
Unflushed of his sins, but aware.
Lucid and purified knows
that he is forgiven and blessed!