Focus on the Lotus

Focus on the lotus
not on the mud,
the nectar is within.

Wait out this exile.
A fog hides the path,
yet at each step
the fog vanishes.

From rain to river,
from silt to salt,
from salt to the sky,
tireless, ageless,
trust its rhythm,
it wakes your thirst,
it slakes your thirst,
trust its wisdom.

You are the mud,
focus on the lotus,
the nectar is within.

(Published first in Indian Review Spring, 2012)

Question the question

How unfair is your fair skin - face question?


I ask for love. You say, don't - race question?



By taking a stand I - raise question.


You dislike my ideal, but praise question?



But when ‘?’ is buried alive, is ‘?’ – a courage question?


There are no answers apt, so erase question?



"Charged dismissed, released!" but the disgrace question?


Is accusation an insult? Or is it a phrase question?



Who owns this country? Is it a space question?


Must we ask the gravediggers? Is it a grave question? 





You seek truth or beauty, not just the surface (question?)


Why isn’t to answer as simple as is to graze question? 



Silence me, condemn me, force me to retrace question.


But whatever Vivek asks, isn’t it an always question?

--

First published in Indian Review, Spring 2012