I Would Even Give Up My Chillum Poem by Ravi Kopra

A piece of cloth to wrap around the loins,
A staff, a begging bowl, a chillum
to smoke bhang that was all that was
needed to live in retirement in India years ago.

You give up all possessions.
You cut off all connections.
You go to some jungle to live in a sanyas ashram
and pray for happiness for all
pray for peace in the world.

How simple to be bare minimum!
How lofty to be human!

Now no such ashramas.
And before I set to pray
I will be a prey for a hungry
wolf, a jackal, a leopard or a lion.
No natural habitat left for them
To live on wild life.

Well, I could become a monk.
But I could not chant chants. I am an atheist.
I would not mind being called a wonk,
I would even give up my chillum if
I could find a camp of atheists.