Sunday, 11 April 2021

Monday, April 5, 2021

Room at 243, Toronto

 

RAM

 

On the 21st of this month we will celebrate the birthday of Ram. This is my latest poetical rendering. It is in his honour.

 

RAM

 

Ram possesses all the qualities of a superhero

Royal traits of ultimate prince, monarch or pharaoh

Reverent to all, eager to help and listen

With a service attitude acting on what’s given

His build is admirable, countenance grave

A task he’ll tackle meant only for the brave

He never moves suddenly at a reckless whim

No wonder his father, the emperor, adores him

Ram is a heartthrob for many a woman

He also has a striking brother with name Laksman

Of all the ladies, lovely Sita won Ram in a tournament

These three leave an indelible mark, a footprint

Literally so, on a forest floor at Chitrakoot

In a fateful exile they meet an ogress — not cute

Smitten with desire the ogress solicits Ram

He declares loyalty, not yielding to this love bomb

This invokes a fury in the lustful jungle lady

Who attacks Sita, for all she does is shady

Lakshman draws his dagger making a clean cut

Off comes nose and ears disfiguring her somewhat

The wounded ogress flees to gain retaliation

Fourteen thousand aggressive ogres assail, adding aggravation

Ram single-handedly put their lives to completion

The ogress reaches her cannibal king, Ravan, to petition

In revenge, this ten-headed villain uses trickery and hoax

A mystic becomes a golden deer who goes to coax                                                                                                 

Fair Sita away from the guard of her husband

Ravan’s plot triumphs, stealing Sita, Ram’s diamond

To Isle Lanka he flies with captive Sita by his side

Devastated is Ram with his love companion denied

A vulture, a bear, a monkey offer solace

As allies they pledge to regain the goddess

Battles are conflicts to avoid if possible

When negotiations fail with bridges not crossable

Speaking of bridges, monkey Hanuman cleared the ocean

With one leap to Lanka on the strength of devotion

Crossing a new causeway, now the means to go

Is a simian army wielding weapons, for Ram it’s a bow

A clash between mean man and monkey is a fierce fight

Casualties are plenty as all exhibit such might

The turning point — a fatal arrow hits Ravan’s navel

The only bodily location Ram finds unstable

The ten-headed fiend’s legion is completely defeated

But what now of Sita, has her life been depleted?

All this while it appears Sita’s in captivity

In a grove of ashaka trees devoid of festivity

Surprisingly the goddess in despair is a mere phantom

Putting a twist to the story, interesting to fathom

When Sita was abducted she prayed to the fire god

He gave her protection, for this we must applaud

Then and illusory Sita was suddenly manifest

The joke was on Ravan who thought he had the best

But then we wonder, did Ram too get tricked?

The drama plays out so emotions can be gripped

Ram, Sita, Laksman end a fourteen-year ordeal

Hanuman joins, they return to Ayodhya to reveal

More divine and sweet pastimes of a mystical kind

Tales of Ram are for a happy heart and happy mind

            -Composed by Bhaktimarga Swami, The Walking Monk©

 

May the Source be with you!

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