The Mountain Sage Poem by samyak jain

it was sitting
straight, upright and back to us,
a few miles out of the village.

i grew up seeing the mountain
sitting
straight, upright and back to us.

often we took a detour
and went to see its face,
the face, as though, turned away,
the mountain sage still sat
straight, upright and back to us.

grand pa told us
as long as anybody
remembered
a sage had
turned into a mountain
doing penance
for all the mankind
and
nobody knew
how long it will go on
sitting there.

i knew the sage
was not happy,
the people have
removed the hair,
cut his arms,
burned his body parts,
dried the water to him.
and still
he harboured
no rancour,
unmoved as though,
doing penance for whom
nobode knew,
the mountain sage
sits
straight, upright and straight back to us.

now grown up
i understand
why
he is sitting straight back,
to an ungrateful
mass of people.

..atp..