Jayan K Cherian
(And when they do some lewdness they say: We found our fathers doing it and Allah hath enjoined it on us, say: Allah, verily, enjoineth not lewdness. Tell ye concerning Allah that which ye know not? Al A’raf.28-29: Quran)
One
Impermanence (Anityam)
Arhantan
speaks
to the clouds.
In the Gandhara stone where
non-violence
streamed down and dried
the body-hollow
of the redeemer.
A Bamiyan wind
carrying the sound
of poppy plants blooming
climbs down the passage
of the gods.
If you are not
the giant feet
thighs
groin
abdomen
and the sky-splitting
head
carved
out of a single
sandstone,
Milinda
sharpening
his tongue
against
the breast of
Nagasena,
then what are you?
For the Noble silence
that splits
the rock’s flesh
Chenghis Khan’s cannon
and Aurangzeb’s agnihotram*
Two
Thathagata’s Obligations
An uncircumcised one
ossified
in the lost glories
of Kabul Museum.
Clipped mustache
imprisoned.
A breathing ‘mummy’
draped in a burqa
and buried
in the kitchen.
The bazooka
that dangles
from the shoulder
of a Jihadi
The lone star
of the desert
that lusts after the moon.
Prophecies
that shrink away
into darkness
The prophet’s
cleft from
throat
to testicles.**
Thus Satan
Cite Dante.
-------------
*.Agnihotram is a Vedic fire sacrifice.
**‘Inferno’, 28th Canto, Divine Comedy by Dante.
Copyright © 2002 Jayan K.Cherian