the thread that binds *updated*

It is around a holy tree,
She revolved her belief,
It stands a sacred symbol,
Surrounded by four pillars of gold,
Small engravings of wisdom,
Being chanted out,
In a language long forgotten,
Surviving only as a dead whisper,
A whisper loud enough to wield power,
To keep her enslaved;
Surrounded by red and yellow flags,
The amber incense filling the senses with a fragrance that helps,
To create a trance that culminates into,
A numb ecstasy;
A trance of oaths, pledges,
Offerings and devotion;
Endless heads with her bowing down,
Millions of souls revolving around,
The tree oozing out divine faith,
Her faith, their faith;
Taken from within and given away,
Sold by the proxy Gods,
As sacred threads; that
Are tied back on the stems, on the branches
Where it stays and will stay
For her, for them,
The manifested faith, faith she searches for,
Faith she will always search for,
Till it is hers.

A few evenings ago the two of us, unknowningly, were writing the same thing, differently ofcourse, but similar also. And it turned out into a little story of faith and wonder. Here’s the other thought. it is a Hindu ritual to weave threads around holy trees for a ritual of wish fulfillment. the following bad translation was my take on the thought.

i
the silent serious son of the earth
was standing alone
in the temple courtyard
for ages and ages
in a silent dialogue
had asked
of my goal
from the wind and the water
from the sky and the sun
or was searching it for
in the fire’s final embrace

you
*Shakti’s daughter
moving, agile
calm, still
came and weaved
all around me
a fair thread
of faith

and me
a helpless peepal tree
transformed
into a **Kalpvriksh able

* shakti is the ‘life force’ in Hindu mythology, the name given to the mother goddess

** kalpvriksh is the mythical tree in heaven, which fulfills wishes

and now, thanks to dear ‘how do we know’, i’ve the poem in devanagri script…

मैं
धीर गम्भीर
खडा अकेला,
देवालय के प्रांगन में
युगों युगों से
मौन संवाद में
पूछ रहा, ध्येय अपना
वायु – वरुण
आकाश – अरुण से
या ढूंढ रहा था,
अंतिम – अग्नि आलिंगन में

तुम
शक्ति पुत्री,
गतिमय, चपल,
प्रशांत, अटल,
बांध गयीं
चहुं ओर मेरे,
आस्था की
डोरी कुशल

और मैं,
अक्षय पीपल
बन उठा कल्पवृक्ष सबल..