TRUTH AND PLEASURE

1. THE INVOCATION

O Lord Ganesh, 'tis most unmeet
That thou art formed of clay so plain
And placed at end of narrow street
	Above a stagnant drain.

A row of eves at water-taps 
Springs at dawn upon thy sight.
They care a whit for thee perhaps
	And swear and spit and fight.

Behold at eve the sozzled youth
Stagger and fall like drunken logs;
And behold those with thoughts uncouth
	Stray like concupiscent dogs.

If here for long thou wish to stay,
Thy tearless eyes will defiled be.
'Tis best I end thy divine play
	And immerse thee in sea.

But I will climb the greenest hill
Where Lord Kanthan thy brother sits;
And there will I of choice marble
	Restore thy shape and wits.

Here shalt thou gambol as before
And each bamboo with trunk uproot;
And thee will Kanthan envy more
	Than when he lost the fruit.

Lord Ganesh, not I hope the less
Here to spend with thee my days;
And if thou raise thy trunk and bless,
	I will trumpet thy praise.

One tusk you broke for Ved Vyas
Who sang of Dharma and his tribe.
O break thou thy other tusk
	And deign to be my scribe.


2. CREATION

God, angels, mankind, devils,
Hell, purgatory, paradise,
Earth, water, air, fire, skies,
Seas, lakes, vales, plains, hills,
Deer, lamb, wolf, panther, shark,
Eagle, bees, roses, lark,
Song, dance, pleasure, toil,
Sweat, dew, meat, drink, oil,
Tongue, palm, eyes, nose, ear,
Health, sickness, wealth, poverty,
Darkness, light, love, fear,
Mother, son, daughter, sire,
Husband, wife, society,
Lover, friend, enemy,
Sinner, doubt, yogi, ire,
Youth, desire, age, pyre,
Truth, falsehood, that, this,
Existence, Knowledge, Bliss! 
   
3. THOUGHT AND DEED			
Yet boast not to me of human thought
Though it precedes each human deed.
Can thought better the human lot
Or fulfil each human need?
Hail, hail the human deed instead:
Ships that plough the waves that rise,
Tractors that plough the earthen bed
And the jets that plough the skies!

Yet boast not to me of human deed
Though 'tis sired by human thoughts.
What deed has sowed a fruitful seed
Or untied humanity's knots?
Hail, hail the human thought instead:
Dreams that plough the sleeping eyes,
Words that plough the waking head
And the visions that plough the skies!

4. SOLITUDE

I care not for the company
Of folks who toil and have no ease.
I alone heard the melody
Of some song-bird in the tree.

So what if the rural lassie
Drawing water from pond or well
Listens not to the melody
Of that song-bird in the tree?

So what if the potter's busy,
Shaping clay on a restless wheel
And cares not for the melody
Of that song-bird in the tree?

An ode to joy or threnody
I surely will sing as I please
Though none care for the melody
Of that song-bird in the tree!

5. HONEYMOON

Just one more day in this vale shall we stay?
Tomorrow we'll quit this place if we may.
The city is where your money you make,
But see! sweetly sails the swan in the lake.

Let's row the boat to where the lilies grow;
And O! the swan mates with its own shadow.
Of course we sweetly kiss even at home,
But sweeter are kisses under this dome.

Like the silvern boat upon starry skies,
So do we float in bliss with twinkling eyes.
Tomorrow must we put pleasures to flight?
Or just extend our stay by one more night?

6. A POET'S PLEDGE

For a crust of bread or a bowl of wine
Never will I my poetic wits resign.
	Nor pride of name nor love of fame
	Canst lure my Muse to deeds of shame.

No slave is my thought to dance to some beat
Or fall prostrate to kiss royalty's feet.
	No wish of Queen nor will of King
	Shall bid my Muse their paeans to sing.

But when Truth's trumpet voice wakens the soul
To soar like fire and like waves to roll,
	Then shall my Muse break into song
	With inspired thoughts to rouse the throng.

7. THE BODHISATTA

Awaiting the showers of spring
I've been a desolate seed,
Dormant as a rosary bead
Fallen from a broken string.

Braving each storm like a brute,
I've been a banyan tree
With snaky roots hanging free
And laden with a reddish fruit.

Devouring scores of leaves and more,
I've been a caterpillar
Bereaved of will to crawl or stir
And dreaming not of what's in store.

Cloyed with sweetness each blossom brings,
I've been a butterfly;
Blissful as a blushing sky,
Floating on bright embroidered wings.

With bristling skin and bloodshot eyes,
I've been a chameleon shrewd;
Brooding over a changing mood
And changing colour in a trice.

Spreading wings at break of day,
I've been a swift-winged kite
With sharp beak and appetite,
Hovering over terrestrial prey.

Nursing a white swan's crimson breast,
I've been little Siddharth -
Compassionate in all the earth,
The Buddha-to-be, the ever blest. 
8. BALLADE OF THE FROG

For many years, counting from one to nine,
No single drop of rain from the skies fell.
So townsfolk raised to the Rain-God a shrine
And bade the priest cast out the evil spell.
The river that used to run through the town	
Had been dammed by a king beyond the dell.
No chants could make the smiling skies to frown;
The priest was reborn a frog in the well.

Along came a man, water to divine,
With divining-rod that can secrets tell.                        
He walks along a curve, along a line,
But cannot figure where the waters dwell
Till he steps into the shrine in the town;
For there the rod begins to spin like hell.
All smile for joy but only one did frown;	
The priest was reborn a frog in the well.

To dig a well they needs must raze the shrine:
Already they can hear the waters swell.
The priest loses his cool and calls them swine
And for the last time rings the temple bell.	
He then begs upon his knees like a clown
But they raze the shrine and dig a deep well.
He goes mad and runs up and down the town.
The priest was reborn a frog in the well.

He looks up at the skies that would not frown
And clasps the idol of the Rain-God well;
He jumps into the well, himself to drown.
The priest was reborn a frog in the well.

9. FALL OF A LIZARD

Fattened more by greed than by chance,
A lizard seems stuck upon the wall
In the temple of the Lord of dance.

Fortune responds to a lizard's call;
Wealth and pleasure should the reptile
On your forehead or shoulder fall.

Fortune on you will also smile
Should it fall on ear; if on heel,
Bound you are to wander a mile.

Let it fall on neck and you will deal
A cup of woes to all your foes.
But mind your feet to guard your weal.

Should the lizard fall upon your toes
You are sure to lie sick in bed.
So is if it falls upon your nose.

And if it drops upon your head,
Rib on left or arm on right by chance
You'll be left right among the dead.

Musing thus I fell into a trance
And saw in a dream the reptile
Shift its weight in a seeming dance.

I saw it stir and pause awhile
And on the amber ceiling crawl
Like an inverted crocodile.

The lizard slips, the lizard falls -
Down below is Lord Shiva's head!
Pealing bells echo on temple walls.

The bells above Lord Shiva's head
Had broke the lizard's fatal fall -
A calamity averted!

The peals resounded in the hall,
Startled me from my trance to tell
The lizard was still on the wall.

It was the priest who had rung the bell
And broke my fancy's blasphemous spell.

10. SACRILEGE

The lady of the house is dead.
The servants who feast on leftovers
Have to fast and abstain from sex
Till the rites are done and the body
Taken to Agni's amorous bed.
But the cat has upset the pot
And laps up the milk on the floor.
And two lizards are mating on the wall.

11. STATUE: A PANTOUM

Flowers fall as blessings upon my head
As I stand under the gulmohur tree.
Peasants are toiling hard for daily bread
While the birds and beasts that are wild are free.

As I stand under the gulmohur tree                                    
With many a thought in my stony breast;
While the birds and beasts that are wild are free,
The sweating sun is still to find its rest.

With many a thought in my stony breast,                            
I envy the beasts of the earth that roam.                             
The sweating sun is still to find its rest
And the birds seem to quit the skies for home.

I envy the beasts of the earth that roam,
I envy the birds of the skies that sing.                                   
And the birds seem to quit the skies for home                   
In the trees where they sleep with folded wing.

I envy the birds of the skies that sing
And those whose droppings fall upon my head.
From the trees where they sleep with folded wing,                 
Flowers fall as blessings upon my head.                                

12. THE POND

Forever and ever at rest
On Mother Earth's fair serene breast
	I lie crystal clear,
And watch the course from east to west
	The glorious sun steer.

Full of cheer the sweet birds sing;
To their stalks the flowers cling
	Till fall of eventide.
Save for a ripple in their wing,
	Like clouds the kites glide.

These besides with never-shut eyes
I watch across the vaulted skies
	The myriad stars appear.
And then the mystic moon doth rise
	And shines without a peer.

I perceive naught than what is,
The present indeed is bliss
	Which lends my thought wings.
Thus the lotus the breeze to kiss
	From my bosom springs.

All substance in the skies appear;
Their shades in my visage clear
	To stay and to fly.
The sky is but half a sphere,
	The other half - I!

Whilst thus I lie forever still,
Neither a wave nor a ripple
	Shalt from my self rise,-
Save when her clay pitcher to fill
	A fair maiden hies;

Save when perchance a spotted deer
Doth with a timorous mate appear
	Its thirst at once to slake;
Or save when dewdrops like a tear
	Upon my surface break.

Not a lesson have I to teach,
Nor path to tread, nor goal to reach,
	A silent witness I.
Bliss eterne is mine beyond speech,
O'er me the zephyrs sigh.