Third Eye
Third eye
My mother said she prayed to Shiva
for six years, staying up nights for a child
to unshackle from the pressure of barrenness.
I was born on seventh, I guess a blessed event!
When I was a child, I heard stories of Shiva;
glories from the mountains of Himalayas;
demons destroyed and battles fought.
When I became a young adult
I learnt the power and oddities,
the opium to pacify and the nectar to save
the dancing damsels and the dance of death.
When I became an adult I questioned the dualities;
the women and Men, the creator and destroyer
the significant and contradictory acts.
Unanswered, unrevealed questions remain
yet, Shiva exists between present and emptiness.
In the years between youth and adulthood
age of innocence and self identification
dreams and imaginations raced along
I dreamt, I wished I had a third eye like Shiva
I would have the power to do good
like Phantom or Superman or Bahadur(*)
no one would touch me in school or elsewhere.
I could be popular with everyone, young and old
If only I had a third eye, I am the blessed one.
Dreams of youth, ignorant and foolish
now I know why it got vanquished
yet, like the sparks of extinguished fire
fragments remained in the heart.
Knowledge overtakes dreams in time
questioning the mythical meanings
a reflection of Shiva is in every being
I am a part of it, realized or unrealized.
The third eye is there in me all along
I am blessed like all creatures big and small
It is is there to destroy the ego and vanity
to enjoy the waves and nature in totality
beyond the confined fear of mortality
Shiva, You have opened my third eye finally
yet my heart still beats for my mother dearly
for each Bel leaf, she gave to thee.
============
April 14, 2019
In memory of my mother, on her 76th birthday.
(*) Bahadur is an Indian superhero that I grew up with.
My mother said she prayed to Shiva
for six years, staying up nights for a child
to unshackle from the pressure of barrenness.
I was born on seventh, I guess a blessed event!
When I was a child, I heard stories of Shiva;
glories from the mountains of Himalayas;
demons destroyed and battles fought.
When I became a young adult
I learnt the power and oddities,
the opium to pacify and the nectar to save
the dancing damsels and the dance of death.
When I became an adult I questioned the dualities;
the women and Men, the creator and destroyer
the significant and contradictory acts.
Unanswered, unrevealed questions remain
yet, Shiva exists between present and emptiness.
In the years between youth and adulthood
age of innocence and self identification
dreams and imaginations raced along
I dreamt, I wished I had a third eye like Shiva
I would have the power to do good
like Phantom or Superman or Bahadur(*)
no one would touch me in school or elsewhere.
I could be popular with everyone, young and old
If only I had a third eye, I am the blessed one.
Dreams of youth, ignorant and foolish
now I know why it got vanquished
yet, like the sparks of extinguished fire
fragments remained in the heart.
Knowledge overtakes dreams in time
questioning the mythical meanings
a reflection of Shiva is in every being
I am a part of it, realized or unrealized.
The third eye is there in me all along
I am blessed like all creatures big and small
It is is there to destroy the ego and vanity
to enjoy the waves and nature in totality
beyond the confined fear of mortality
Shiva, You have opened my third eye finally
yet my heart still beats for my mother dearly
for each Bel leaf, she gave to thee.
============
April 14, 2019
In memory of my mother, on her 76th birthday.
(*) Bahadur is an Indian superhero that I grew up with.
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