Deliver Me..Forgive Me.. Poem by Rasika Kalyanikar

I asked You for my sublimation,
But I seek times indulgence now,
to sit and ponder..I sense you in the dancing cool breeze
calming the agonized.
And the tormented wind, worrying the one at peace.

I offered you a flower grown in my backyard..
But I envy it...
Tough touched by my sinful hands, It remains pious..
Caressing its virginity..It shrinks while rendering
You its last whiff and become eternal..

And I see now the small shrine in my house,
where we ignorant believe You dwell..
And pray before the brass idols..
Closing my eyes Oh Lord, my soul tries
to leap in the shadow of the steady flame
burning in my oil lamp.

Like You are in the delicacy of petals
and the pure white of Doves..
You are..in the remnants of the cotton
which burned for You in that lamp..
In the sun rays and the clouds hiding them..
In the cries of the new born
And in the tears of the mother hear
her baby cry for the first time..

You are......in me too.
I know I am dark..too dark..
I ask not You to turn me into the brightest flame..
Deliver me Oh Lord..forgive me..Make me incandescent..
My incandescence guiding me on my path ahead..

For I know this deliverance will give me the strength
enough to pass... at least by Your outer aura..
Your aura with the whole You..
residing somewhere deep within me....