Magarajyoti Poem by Prabhakar Subramaniam

It was touted

As a miracle,

Drawing pilgrims like

Insects to a flame,

Claimed to be visible only to those

Who had been the most devout

Strictly observing the rites

And keeping the vows,

Those who did not see it

For reasons of refractive error

Always pretended they had seen

The manifestation on the hill -

The stampede shattered the myth,

Led to official admissions

That the light was man-lit,

Drew erudite distinctions

Between the star and the flame,

Many blamed the pilgrims

For panicking and pouring

Down a narrow jungle path,

Some wrote I-told-you-so articles

How the tragedy

Was waiting to happen

The fundamentalists gave the perspective

That for the believer

It was a direct ascent to heaven

A spark disappearing into the celestial fire

Dying during a pilgrimage

Like this was mass nirvana

A harvest of the chosen.