Colour of fire
Bringer of light
Burn away ignorance
Flame of insight
Saffron
Colour of purity
Symbol of abstinence
Purge the tainted
Cleansing ritual
Saffron
Colour of purity
Symbol of abstinence
Purge the tainted
Cleansing ritual
Beautiful
Were it a morning mist
Or a shroud of fog
Pierced by morning sun
But smoke permeates the atmosphere
Even the train compartment
In which I ride
With every breath
Smoke
I struggle to see
The beauty here
In a world
Of grim and grime
Of damage and refuse
The hard task
On this spirit path
Find the beauty
In all things
But there is colour
Form and texture
Elements underlie design
And the dynamic
Of a captured moment
In an old man’s morning
In the early, decrepit morning
On the side of a busy, urban road
And no one cares to notice, but me
But that’s India: mad as a hatter
A million times a day
Absurd until it seems normal
To build the pyres
For funeral blaze
Lit from embers
Of Shiva’s fire
Burns every hour
Of every day
Four thousand years
And still today
Playful ritual
Paddling on styrofoam
While mother washes
Everyday:
A little music
A little dance
Even better:
A lot