“She is like an angel,” he says, awed
I nod my head
As her boat recedes, into the night
I check the display, hoping I caught it
It’s there, as I search for words
Transcendant
Is where I land
When neither beauty nor perfection suffice
And even the divine of angelic falls short
A word for when no word captures an experience
Ganga Angel
Evening Aarti
Mother Ganga (Ganges River)
Dashashwamedh Ghat
Varanasi
Uttar Pradesh, India
NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo 2025
Day 12 … transcendance on Mother Ganga.
The Aarti ceremony is held twice daily at many of India’s Hindu Ghats. The first at dawn and the second begins at dusk. It’s a fire ceremony to honour the God Shiva. Perhaps the grandest of all is at Dashashwamedh Ghat in India’s holiest city, Varanasi, on its holiest river, the Mother Ganga, where thousands gather as worshippers and spectators every evening. They come by foot and boat to view from the river bank and or floating just off shore.
Three of us in my boat were outbound as the ceremony was ending and passed an inbound boat with three passengers. Fortunately, I had camera in hand, with the right lens, and managed to fire off eight frames. One of them, this one, just about perfectly captured the moment before she slipped away, into the night.
What is NaPoWriMo? National Poetry Writing Month. AKA GloPoWriMo for Global Poetry Writing Month because, you know, it’s a worldwide event. During the month of April, poets challenge themselves to write at least one poem a day, every day, for the entire month. So, 30 poems in 30 days.
If you’d like to join in, or just want to learn more about this annual poetry writing event, the more-or-less official website is NaPoWriMo.net.
I am also one of the admins for a small, private FB group, NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo 2025 if you want to follow other poets on their journey. Just click “Join”.
Pix to Words 