O Disturbed Mind! Poem by Prafulla Kumar Panda

I admit you into my world
when you are pale and sick at heart
and lying like a street urchin
now you grow vaster in size
and spread your tentacles
and enjoying the pomp of life
you grow like ‘Bhasmasura'
and forget me,
your sole benefactor

O wise fool! Why do you rush in vain
to meet trouble and frustration, anguish and pain?
i give you sweets but you aspire to taste things sour
i teach mythology to tame your mind
but you grow frivolous and unkind
and develop an attitude of the west wind
now you sit with me but the next moment
i discover you in Japan, in America, or in England

remember, remember- O disturbed Mind!
returning from the world's vast citiesyou will see this ‘cage' made of reason and logic
i'll confine you in it
these two grey hounds-
‘knowledge' and ‘intellect'
whom I've found
will keep a vigil all around
have promised to tame you
and bend you low
and my ‘conscience' will be your guide
that'll whip you for just a strife
‘wisdom' will be your tutor
to teach you to set things in order.

©Prafulla Panda, India
All rights reserved.

(In Hindu Mythology ‘Bhasmasura' was a demon (asura) who pleased
Lord Shiva in prayer who granted him a boon with the power to burn
anyone into ashes (bhasma) , whose head he would touch. He was so
amok with such a power that he wanted to taste the effect of such a
boon by touching the head of Lord Shiva, his benefactor first.)