Religion in the East

There in Rangoon I understood that the gods
were enemies of the poor human being,
just as God is.
Gods of alabaster, lying down
like white whales,
gods gilded like wheat,
serpent gods coiled round
the crime of being born,
naked and elegant buddhas
smiling at the cocktail parties
of empty eternity
like Christ on his horrible cross,
all of them ready for anything -
to impose on us their heaven
by torture or pistol,
to buy our piety or fry our blood,
fierce gods made by men
to cover up their cowardice,
and that's how it all was there,
the whole world reeking of heaven,
of heavenly supermarkets.

Suggested read : Pablo Neruda

Suggested rhythm : "Khawaja tum hi ho", Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Thanks to Nina for this find !! its one of the rarest.

You'll never die !!

I came to Vayalar with the first red rays of the morning - to meet you.

Those old days - days of commitment and sincerity,
in Cherthala when blood spread over the mud and loose sand.
When the flag was as red as blood, days of the martyrs.

I came looking for you on one of those days.
Amma served us rice porridge on that wooden patio
with the smell of flowers and snakes all around.
We ambled along those sandy lake shores.

One night Kalavamkodu Balakrishnan joined us - NSP Panicker too.
That night we wrenched out and broke one stupid idol
that stood by the algae filled green pond.

Years went by.....
You became the anthem of this land, our pride, our intoxication, our rythm.

Finally when you said 'so long' .....
those idols which never cried and we who only cried
- wept and wept for you.

You are the pride of this beautiful land, you'll always be.

You'll never die !!


Suggested read : Malayattoor Ramakrishnan, Vayalar RamaVarma

Suggested rythm : Chandrakalabham chartiyurangum theeram - Vayalar, Devarajan , kJY