Mahatma Poem by Sasanka Sekhar Panda

Mahatma!
Your heart was as serene
as the blue sky,
Your soul was
as pleasant as the
embalming smearing
of the moon beams.

Mahatma!
You felt the eternity
from the very moment
you felt the darkness
of the enclosing embrace
of your mother's nurturing womb.

You climbed to the height of
supra-consciousness
of eternal truth,
you drove the mass
from the seen to the unseen
and you turned into reality
the aspirations and dreams
of your countrymen.

For others,
the arrogant Yama* may not wait,
but it is really strange that
for you he is still waiting.

I don't know
what type of sorcery you were knowing
you even hypnotized the Satan,
and pretending to sleep for ever
you are still running after us
all the time
like a benign ghost.

Mahatma!
now you have turned into
the love in our hearts
you have turned into
the vision in our minds
you have turned into
the soul within each lonely soul
and you have turned into god.

*Yama: The Hindu god of death.
**Mahatma: Gandhi who brought freedom for the Indian people through non-violent struggle.