A Prayer Poem by Prafulla Kumar Panda

Forgetting is not a bliss
when flow of virtue I do miss

while aging, I grew hard
and never weighed thatLOVE is greater than attraction,
KINDNESS is greater than sympathy, and
COMPASSION is greater than pity
in my heyday,
i didn't listen to my inner voice
that often said,
expand and drift away

as I'm not an object of clay
with the glamour of youth
my heart began to swell
allowing vice in it to dwell, and
like cancer it spread
to my every core, instead

O Muse! sing to me the tenets
that God himself once said
that may be manifold,
and of quinine taste,
sure it will cure me of
the disease I suffer from
and enthrall me
to dance with His tune
to attune me,
until my limbs exhaust

O Muse! whisper into me
His providence and
let me act for I want
to mitigate all my sins in life;
likely I will preparewith teary eyes,
and with a palmful offerings
let me sit at His lotus feet
until expiated of my sins
and the Dove flutters
and flies to the heavenly alma mater.

©Prafulla Panda, India
All rights reserved.