Busiest But Backward

Busiest
But the most backward
Place is my neighborhood,
Seen very little change,
While, I have passed
From childhood to adult life,
Being a boy,
Collecting leaves for goat
And firewood to burn,
To a university don
And a non-stipendiary priest

Life begins here at dawn
When children and men
Occasionally, also a woman or two
Visit the leftover shrub
To free themselves of the previous day’s grub

This followed by the older folk
With un-fattened cows and slim goats
To graze the almost extinct grass
Then come those who catch fish
By stirring the stagnant pond
While the underfed stray dogs
Keep annoying the already frightened goats
Chained to their fixed posts

Towards the evening
But, only if there is no gun firing
The boys will be seen playing
Re-confirming, and re-confirming
The absence of my neighborhood’s matriarchy

Later as the sun sets
The younger from among the older
And sometimes, even
The elder from the older
Trickle towards this busy camp
For cheaper but illicit strong drink
Patronized by the state’s law enforcing machine

Busiest
But the most backward
Place is my neighborhood,
Seen very little change!

Henry Victor 24.08.1998

Heroic Compassion

Empower me
To release
My little self
To strive towards
And accomplish greater works
Compelling, if necessary,
My insignificant
Tiny being
To render for this world
And ungrudgingly
Do heroic services

Continuously
Cherish within
My little self
The desire
For supernormal
Range of human life
Performing courageously,
Even amidst
Self-seeking people,
Acts of
Adventurous heroic compassion

Henry Victor 13.01.1994

Priestly Prayer

O God
Make me not
A lazy sacrificial official
An avaricious dealer in magic sayings
A conceited worthless orator
A wicked sly priest
Or just a good stupid sheep amongst a large herd

O God
Make me a human who is
Strong minded
Imaginative
Level headed
Sympathetic
A human who knows his/her mind
And is not afraid to speak it

Henry Victor 19.08.1980

Lord Is My Shepherd

The Lord is my shepherd; my needs are numerous
He leads me in the dry desert land
When I am thirsty
He guides me to rivers that are deep and flooding

He expects me to be courageous
Among those who are callous and inhuman
He presumes that I walk in the paths of the just humans

When I walk through roads that are dangerous and dark
I am terrified of the evil humans and their structures
Because though He had promised to be with me, I never see his face

Lord, you have very often let me down in the presence of my enemies
And you have forgotten to anoint my head with oil

My cup is empty
Yet, I will follow you
And serve your people always

Henry Victor 18.01.1983

Tiger

Among all the animals I like tiger the best
She is ferocious
She is pretty
She is kind

In the forest the tiger is not the first in command
But she moves very swiftly
And perhaps she is the only animal
That can neither be tamed nor domesticated

Among all the animals I like tiger the best
She has the strength
She has the stripes
She has the will

In the forest the tiger is the most feared animal
For she pounces from afar
But never misses the target
For she has known that art from her childhood days

Among all the animals I like tiger the best
She is a symbol of self-determination
She is a symbol of resistance
She is a symbol of freedom

Henry Victor 29.07.1987

No Tears

Since all tears have been
Converted to thick ink
And I have been
Taught and trained by pen
None have I, to shed in vain

Furthermore, earlier, and even
Now, much of those tears have been
Expended for purifying my mind,
Heart and soul – no! My entire being
Teaching me the secrets of the unseen
And increasing my understanding of the seen

Those continuing tears eventually turn
To be the cement that holds my self
Together with those stray birds flying
With, already, broken wing,
The wretched of the earth

Henry Victor 04.02.1995

Folly

Folly is that which
fails to recognise your names
that others, joyfully give you
while I name you, the nameless

Deafness is that which
delights not, in praises to you sung by others
in Sanskrit, Pali and countless other languages
while I, in Greek and Latin, praise you, the ineffable

Blindness is that which
braves not, to discern your presence
in temples, mosques and shrines
while I, in Church, establish you, the boundless

Arrogance is that which
admits not the right of others
to follow, their chosen path
while you, always, remain the unfathomable

Henry Victor 22.12.1996