Along The Ganges Poem by Raghavan Warrier

I came to you to “embrace the wings of void”*
Like a boat without a sail and oars to guide;
Along your banks and away from the crowd
You walked me through timeless present
To make me feel the realm of eternity.

Guilt of beauties and crime of bandits,
Ego of scholars and adamance of pundits
Acquired sin from millions of births
Dissolve in you; to evolve anew.

Nascent prayers, nestling in flowers
Pots of ashes, carrying a life’s hope
Paeans of pilgrims and hymns of priests
Tears of a girl, her enemy; her flesh.
Coins to calm the fears of passage
Carcass and corpses, food and fodder
Dissolve in you; carried away from view.

Bells ringing a call to gods
Lips chanting a fervent hope
Pyres burning a life’s effort
A Seer preaching empty words
Along your banks
Amongst the crowd.

Selfless piety cupped in folded hands
Mindless gaiety of a drunken party
Useless idiot sitting on a bed of nails
Ruthless looting of a pilgrims party
Along your banks
All in your cause.

Along your banks
A naked Sadhu prays with a Sufi fakir
Greatest master walks like a drunken monk
Hopeless addict looks like the highest priest
Lazy Brahmans discuss the meaning of life.

Along your banks, away from the crowd
And among the crowd, I saw
The angst of minds between life and death
And a failure to build, a bridge between
The banks of birth and death.