No Room Within Poem by Aniruddha Pathak

In biting dying days of cold December,
There came Joseph and Mary one late night,
Knocking at bolted doors of an old inn,
Nine months with unborn Christ and in great plight.

‘Not even a soul easy can breathe here,
‘No, there’s no room in this too small an inn’—
There be none anywhere in all the world
If there’s no room in heart’s hollow within.

There’s plenty in homes, open arms and smile,
The guests walk in where with nary a date1,
They wearing a glorious robe of God2,
Host’s heart as op as widely ajar gate.

There is enough space in inn, big or small,
What matters is room in man’s feeling heart;
What matters is how one has ever been,
Whose very welcome‘s a piece of fine art!

And often times the room has to be made,
No matter howso little he might have,
Enough, haply he is willing to share,
Room’s always made should compassion so crave.

Some guests, perhaps from lands of setting sun,
They should better be treated pretty well—
An exclusive room no less ah for sure,
Sharing? Not e’en in grave on death to dwell.

‘Oh what a place! I wonder why I came
‘Here, where there’s no space enough for a guest;
‘The least I want is putting them to shame,
‘But God, save me from such beggarly nest’.

Oft poorest of poor knows well to divide,
They know the bliss begotten from gifting—
Giving whatso one has in humble pride,
It’s not gift but spirit behind giving!

It matters li’le the brew be over-brewed,
Or watery bare be the bitter tea,
Moist and soft be the biscuits, crumply bread,
But offered with heart larger than a lea;

Let no more than torn mat on a clean floor
Be all that makes for guests a nightly bed,
If proffered with legendry same lofted lore
Of a five-star hotel’s starred selling head!

I’ve been cajoled to share a crowded berth
Seated-with-four that can barely take three,
When better ‘tis to stand than seated be—
Sharing is second nature taught from birth.

I do these plane folks from far much marvel,
The varied hues of a fluid face admire,
That gives whatso that be given, and well,
An art ‘tis to sense need, un-spoke desire!

But not quite, let me hope, ‘no room at inn’
Turns out to be no true Biblical tale,
Perchance, misguided twist of what had been,
A simple tale stuttering in wan style!

Imagine a Bethlehem innkeeper,
One, raised with an oriental good sense3,
One, who has no room whatso to offer,
Helpless, stable to him was help immense!
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1. Without a date: In Indian hospitality etiquette,
a guest is one that drops in unannounced with
no prior appointment. He is therefore known as
atithi, which in Sanskrit means: a=no, tithi=date,
i.e., one without a date.

2. Glorious robe of God: This comes from ‘atithi
devo bhava’ | It means literally, ‘the guest is
as good as God.’

3. Oriental good sense: The innkeeper in the
Biblical story from Bethlehem is essentially a
product of perhaps Oriental culture, who faced
with no room could not offer the best he would—
and offers a space in stable. The story perhaps
acquired popular colours under the influence of
the prevailing Western norms of ‘Sorry, there’s
no room’.

Penned in the last week of December, the poem was
inspired by Christmas spirit.
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- Reflections | 11.12.08 |