Message for Papa Bois

Father, whose forest
I have left
Forsaken this place
But not the loft
Of its ideals

Fled I from my home
Not for hate as you think,
But love, who’s sweet voice
I still thank
For the song she sung me

Long time
As humans measure,
A hunter met
The forest master

Who decreed
For his crime, to pay
With his life
And the hunter knew despite his plead,
The forest he would never leave

The gentle woods
Needs a savage protector
But the savage woods
Needs a gentle heart
Am I wrong Father,
To play that part?

The forest had taught me strength
Its creatures taught me mercy
And the hunter in the shadow of death
Did teach my heart pity

So on the twilight,
Before his last day,
My power I used
To spirit us away

And from that time
We two,
In human world
Came to know
The echoes of love's song

Alas, did I come to know
That immortal heart
Could not fathom mortal doom
Too soon, too soon!
Cruel Reaper did
Force us two to part
Broken now Father,
Is your daughter's heart

But leave him still
I could not,
Though this human form
I did cast off

Changed now,
I am
My roots reach down
Into the earth where my beloved does sleep
And from my boughs rains tears of pink
To mark his grave when I weep

I stand forever by his side,
And hope the birds would tell
That not for hate but for love
Left you, your daughter
Immortelle.

(c)Geeta Boodansingh, 2011

Depression

The dishes
Have been
Unwashed
For days

The clock
Ticks
Time
Away
Seconds,
Minutes,
Hours,
Days

The phone
Rings
Unanswered
Questions
Friends,
Famly,
Work
Who
Cares?

The bed
Unmade
Sheets
Oppressive
Dark thing
That suffocates
Silent screams

Waiting
Under
Yellow-green haze
For something
And
Nothing
Inertia’s end
But what end?

(c)Geeta Boodansingh, 2011

Fare well to Papa Bois

I watch the silence of the leaves falling
Tears of a fading world
The sound the echo of the death bell tolling
Tolling his goodbye to the world

If I listen I could hear his voice calling
But gone now are the children of twilight who would hear
Gone are those who kept the old Gods from falling
When they were dragged , shackled, in humiliation and despair

He was once the keeper of the lost children
Who would keep them now?
These children who are lost but think they found themselves

The sky would burn black from the altars of a new God,
That would blind us to the sight of a falling leaf,
To holes in the sky,
To his passing ,
To his goodbye for a dying world.

(c)Geeta Boodansingh, 2011

The Divine Poet: Jai Saraswati Ma

My mother gave me speech,
That I may sing and teach,
Praises to her name,
And whisper breaths of the eternal truth.

She gave me mind,
That I may find,
That virtous path of knowledge,

And heart,to temper, like water to steel
Ego’s aggression,
And so let my soul wield
The blade of wisdom.

Her face I see in the newly risen moon,
Alight with radiant beauty.
Her voice I hear on the restless wind,
That compels my soul to rise up,
Like the swell of that tide, reaching to heaven’s glory.

Her love runs deep,
Through and through,
Blood to heart,
River to ocean.
See how each comes home at last?
Into the arms of something greater.

My mother gave me life,
So that I can feel this joy
Of that creation she inspired
And be moved by her eternal poetry
That is writ upon this Earth.

(c)Geeta Boodansingh 2010

The sea calls to me,
Her siren song invoking
That longing in my heart

From land I depart,
Set sail,
Open water,
Open heart,
Wind blowing,
The sun, on the horizon, glowing

Songs of freedom on my salt kissed lips,
As I pull from that eternal womb,
Her bounty freely given.

I feel the cut of the line,
Smooth against skin roughened by toil
Blood for blood.
Now I am a part of her forever,
Mother from whence we all came,

And she cares for us, her children
Though we long left her,
Seeking out that life on land
But still she reaches for us,
Foamy fingers caressing golden sand.

The sea calls to me,
Her siren song invoking
That longing to return to a freedom lost.

(c) Geeta Boodansingh 2010

The Final Battle: Of the beginning and the Fall of the Guardians.

In the days of nothingness,
all was black with emptiness;
The Gods then did the dance of light,
And dawn then came, golden bright
From this spark began the world,
And life slowly did unfurl;
Then in the gardens of the past,
The fate of elven kind was cast,
For the Goddess of life laid down,
From her body the realm she formed,
Sky and rock and tree and sea,
All from her they came to be,
Her spirit then did fill the land,
And molded elves from golden sand,
Into them her life she breathe,
And power too, did she seed;
A link she formed,
With living elf,
And earth and sky and sea,
And self,
To tend her realm the elves did yearn,
The art of life did they learn,
But in the darkness there had been,
Vile things that lurked unseen within,
And evil did they try to breed,
Destruction did they try to seed;
So the Gods they danced again,
And to the realm,
Guardians send,
They came in mail and raiment bright,
Armed with the glory of the light,
And fled, the evil, from their might,
To a realm far from sight
Then the guardians stayed in guise,
Of lesser Gods and Goddesses wise,
And taught the elves their power to use,
Light over dark for them to choose
And so the age of elves began;
Far before the coming of man,
Who came from a realm beyond this place,
And knew not the light of grace;
So the guardians, then did take,
Mortal form so in man to wake,
Knowledge of the realm in which they dwelt,
And respect for all of nature’s wealth,
But man though quick in learning grew,
From them no magic did ensue,
And jealous they become of elves,
And angry with the guardians themselves,
And so they broke the ancient ties,
Defying the will of the guardians,
Then in the lands did strife arise,
The guardians then in anger shed,
The blood of man,
After which it is said,
From grace the guardians fast they fell,
What happened then no one could tell,
But the legends, still they say
The guardians will return one day,
When the angram does appear,
And demons rule with fright and fear,
Then the Final Battle will begin,
And the champions of light will win,
If found in time a weapon of might,
Forged by Arya for the light,
So now this song unfinished be,
Until that day of bliss and glee,
When a new age the realm will see,
Till then light’s victory will be the elven plea.

(c)Geeta Boodansingh 2006

Conversations with Druva

They talk about the end time,
The age of kali yuga some say
Where life is cheap and morality twisted,
Corruption the new way

And they wait
For a savior to come,
God to incarnate,
Save the righteous from this hell

They pray for this miracle,
This judgment day to come.
Blind eyes turn to heaven,
Empty hearts plead for salvation,
And hands, wasted make obeisance

The words are spoken,
The rituals performed…
But the meaning is lost.
When they leave your hallowed halls
The teachings are not even distant memories

And they wait
For their beliefs to come true,
Casting down of demons and serpents,
The transformation of this world anew

If only they did more than talk
And wait.
If only they knew to find God in the
Here and now.

Find divinity and grace
In the kindness of one stranger to another,
In the stars, in the sunrise,
In the beauty of this Earthly place

If only they would cast aside the rituals,
And not get lost in the words of the prayers
But understand that to serve God
Is to serve mankind.

Honour this home and all the inhabitants,
These familiar walls of flesh and bone
Best serve the spirit by dealing acts of kindness,
Allowing hands to help and heal,
Not cast stones.

And God will come again to this world,
And evil shall fall,
Come not to one place,
Or as Messiah to a persecuted people,
But to all.

Then they will realize that they need not wait,
For God never left.
Instead it was man who went astray and did not see
That all are one,
Flesh, and earth, and gas and dust entwined,
Forever inseparable from divinity.

(c)Geeta Boodansingh 2010.9.07